Act II: Nightmare! ?
by The Ansem Man
Summary: I Am Negima, and SO CAN YOU! Welcome to the other side of Mahora Academy, where wondrous and strange things occur, and a mystery waits. Take the invitation of a crazed Peach Moon. Negima! ?/Pani Poni Dash, with touches and references to other fandoms.
1. Intermezzo: Vanishing

**I Am Negima!? AND SO CAN YOU!**

**Intermezzo: Vanishing**

(A/N: Disclaimer: Negima!? is the love child of Ken Akamatsu and SHAFT, not me. PPD likewise is SHAFT. Other characters properties of their respective creators and companies. I bear no ownership of any other character other than Cygnus and one other coming in later. Special thanks to Theru and Serac. ENOUGH RAMBLING, LET'S GET ON WITH THIS!)

Without a doubt, Mahora Academy was the most prestigious academy in the land. Housing _over nine thousand_ classes and many more students, this holy sanctimony of learning bears not only students of normal tutelage, but in secret, some of the finest mages and greatest legends. In fact, not too long ago there was a great mystery and a great battle that took place on that land. Two young teachers, a Mahora incumbent and a visitor from another school, and their students engaged in a battle of both force and wit against an otherworldly swan... but ironically enough, it took interference from another world to resolve that fight. Together, those teachers saved their world from dimensional invasion.

But act two of this strange, amusing, and chaotic tale does not take place there (for the most part anyway). Our journey takes us to the other side of Tokyo, a place more ordinary, and yet still extraordinary. A place where that other young teacher changed the history of her school.

That place is known as Peach Moon Academy.

What looks like an ordinary school is indeed the home for many strange phenomena, even down to the aliens which hover hundreds of miles above it. Indeed, these strange and almost nonsensical happenings give Peach Moon an almost public parallel to that of Mahora. It holds its own rules and its own culture, but even so, a connection between those two schools exists.

However, things are not peaceful there. Some dark and chaotic plot had begun to hatch within those walls. In one night, the cliché but very true cogs of fate began to turn for many people, placing them in a fated clash of light and darkness.

And thus round two of the adventures of Negi Springfield and Rebecca Miyamoto begins.

* * *

What a _horrible night_ to have a _test tomorrow_!

At least, that's how Asuna Kagurazaka felt. There was going to be a massive English test tomorrow, administered by one of her roommates no less. Scowling, she sent a death glare to the one and only Negi Springfield, who was happily composing papers of something or other—likely her doom. Maaaannn, and Zombie Rider X was supposed to have this epic marathon tonight... and she had to_ study_! What a heinous crime! "Seriously, get on with it!" Geez... still no fun.

Asuna looked up from her poor studying, looking back towards her room and the open window. The first thing she noticed was the cloudy and foreboding night sky above, broken up only by the light of the full moon. Geez... truly foreboding. The last night that filled her with any sort of uneasiness was about a month and a half ago, when those strange kids from Peach Moon came in, and following them, a dark-skinned swan man. Ah, the memories of adventure.

Only after reminiscing a bit did Asuna realize that it was rather quiet... their third roommate, Konoka Konoe, wasn't here. She was likely off either training Rocky style or having some sort of elicit affair with Setsuna... Although the mere thought of that had her dodging horrible imaginary nosebleeds from imaginary audiences, so she stopped that. "Ugh... I can't do this anymore! Just let me watch Zombie Rider Deluuuuxeeee!"

"Even though I'm giving out a test tomorrow," Negi said without looking up from his writing, "I'm not the one who's stopping you, right?"

"Urrrgghhh!" Asuna had to restrain herself from clawing her hair and ruining her twin pigtails. "But if I don't study I'm going to bomb the test!" Like it or not, ever since the tiny teachers teamed up, her study habits had improved to the point where she couldn't even rest easy if she didn't study for at least a little bit. Even so, she still preferred the awesome of non-school subjects to... well, school subjects.

"So why don't you just record it?" Negi suggested.

"I would if I had any spare video tapes!" Asuna lamented. "Miyamoto brat used all of them last month!"

"Becky..." This sobered Negi so quickly Asuna nearly regretted mentioning the name.

Asuna thought back to when the two kids were together. Being of similar age, Becky was the only person Negi could really relate to on a personal level especially since they shared similar professions. Underaged genius teachers weren't a common thing these days, after all. "You miss Miyamoto-sensei, don't you?" This sounded more like a statement than a question.

"...maybe," Negi answered. "It's only been half a month, and I haven't heard anything from her. Chao-san hasn't reported anything to me from her friends either."

"Maybe one of these days, I'll find those clowns and drag them back here," Asuna said, giving the boy a wink. "After all, two underaged brats are more amusing than one."

"Hey!"

"Negi-kun! Negi-kun!" The front door, flew open, and Konoka Konoe quickly stepped in. Her normally gentle and happy face was etched in urgency. "My grandfather wants to see you. Says it's urgent!"

"Huh?" Negi stood up. This... _couldn't_ be good.

* * *

Negi slowly opened the door. Despite his feeling of dread, there would be no reason to disrespect the elder Dean by barging in. "Come in, Negi-kun." Dean Konoe said. Negi obeyed.

Inside his grand and yet cozy office, Dean Konoe sat, chin resting on his furled hands. It was unusual for him to be out here this late at night, but apparently if he saw fit to meet Negi out here, than something was up. "You summoned me here... what's the matter?"

"You've done well so far, Negi-kun," the dean said. "It's been nice having you."

"Yes..." Negi began. However, there was something implied in those words. "Wait, what do you mean?"

"It's obvious!" An annoying voice crowed. Oh GOD NO. I was hoping I wouldn't have to write you two annoying mascots in the story yet. But alas. Motsu, the talking frog... thing, landed on the dean's desk. "You failed the hidden test nobody talked about! You're fi—" -SQUISH- The Dean did the world a favor and banged Motsu on the table with one mighty fist.

"Please fail less, mya," Shichimi appeared opposite of Motsu the Pancake, bobbing to a mysterious beat. "Anyway, Negi-kun. We've learned some dire news."

"Dire... news?" Negi did not like that feeling of anxiety in his stomach.

Dean Konoe lifted one eye and looked somberly at Negi. "Rebecca Miyamoto has disappeared."

Negi's eyes widened. "What... why?"

"According to her friends, there was an attempt on her life. She has likely gone into hiding out of fear for her life."

"Who... would do such a thing?" Negi clenched his fists.

"We have no clue. But some contacts of ours have spotted some suspicious activity at her school, including the appearance of a strange individual," the dean explained. "But Negi-kun. Miyamoto-sensei suddenly disappearing has sent the staff and students of Peach Moon into a panic. Furthermore, they cannot locate a suitable substitute."

And then suddenly, the dean's earlier implication made a lot of sense. Negi stood up sharply. "I'll go."

"Negi-kun, aren't you being a bit hasty?" The Dean asked.

"I know, but... if Becky is in danger, then her students are as well," Negi answered. "I'll solve this case."

The Dean laughed. "Just as I thought. Miyamoto-sensei grew on you the short time she was here. I can't dissuade you from going... Perhaps I'll have a word with the principal over at Peach Moon."

"Are the bullet trains still active?"

"Yes."

"I'm leaving on the next train then," Negi quickly stood up and turned to leave, but...

"Negi-kun."

"Y-yes?" Negi nearly jumped before facing the dean again.

"You know your class might not take it well if you suddenly disappear on them. How will you deal with that? And what about your partners?"

"I know someone who can sit for me and take care of my students while I'm away... as for my partners, it'll be too suspicious if I take them with me now, but in the end, I know they'll find me." Negi smiled and turned to the two annoying mascots. "Shichimi-san. Motsu-san. When they're free from the test tomorrow, please guide them to Peach Moon."

"We got it... in a good way," Motsu murmured, still flat as a pancake.

"Okaaayy!" Shichimi added.

"Farewell," Negi concluded.

"Until we meet again, Negi-kun," The dean said heavily as the boy sprinted out of his office. He listened as the boy clambered down the stairs at the end of the hall and dashed off into the quiet night.

* * *

High into the reaches of space, a vaguely Star-Trek-like ship hovered nearby the earth.

You're probably wondering why the bloody hell there's a spaceship hovering around and nobody even noticing it, but then again a lot of things revolving around Peach Moon never made sense. And how did this spaceship involve itself with Peach Moon, anyway?

The aliens piloting it observed somebody from Peach Moon, of course!

Inside the massive technological Star Trek ripoff, there were various bits of technology not seen on earth. Doohickeys and doodads that performed a number of things that humans could not yet achieve lied here. And the aliens piloting the ship, too, were technological wonders. They were short things, wearing brown armor, yellow claws, and having saucers for heads. Nevertheless, they were well equipped for gathering data on this planet.

But there was bad news... the person they were gathering data on had _disappeared_.

"It's bad! I can't find her signal anywhere!" One of the aliens whined.

"Can't you idiots work faster?!" The captain bellowed. Though slightly bigger and slightly browner than the rest, he didn't look all that imposing to his crew. "If we lose track of her data for too long, we could render nearly all future data _useless_!"

"We're trying, we're trying!" Another one shouted.

"I'm trying too!" The captain declared while tinkering with something.

"No you're not, you're pushing random buttons!"

"Oh you shut up!"

"Captain!" Another alien practically sailed into the main control room. He had to take a moment to catch his breath. When he finally did, he shouted. "It's horrible! Somebody's stealing technology right off the ship!"

"What?!" The captain stood up. "This ship is teleportation proof! Unless... dammit! I knew that spray was cheap and bad news!"

"I could've told you that."

"Aw man, this shit is awesome!" A swirl of darkness appeared, and from it, a hand emerged, followed by a body. A dark-skinned man emerged, dressed in white, appeared from below. His swan-like visage towered over the small aliens, greeting them with a savage grin and neon-orange eyes. "Smallboss will _love_ this."

"EEEK!" The aliens cried, scrambling like beheaded chickens.

"I'll blast you down!" One of them suddenly built up bravery and whipped out a small gun. The swan-like man watched with mild interest as the gun charged up and fired a single, tiny blast. Unfortunately, the blast was little more effective than a single pin prick.

The dark skinned man yawned. "This is far too easy," He twirled a bit before forming a thin sword out of darkness and slamming it down. A half-second later, the alien found his gun split cleanly in two. "You don't stand a chance. Don't bother me and you don't get hurt."

"Hey, hey, big brother!" A voice came out of the darkness. Another person dressed in white emerged. However, while the dark-skinned man was like a swan, she was more of an ultra-thin and elegant owl. She shook her red hair to reorient herself. "Cygnus! How long are you going to keep this up?"

"Calm down, Windia,"the man we all know and love to hate or hate to love as Cygnus answered. "I came across something interesting that Smallboss might want."

"W-w-what do you want?!" The captain asked, trying and failing miserably to keep his fear down.

"Errmmm... technology," Cygnus answered, a grin on his face. "I go about raiding it for my boss, as a favor to her." He glanced over at one of the screens, however, and stopped dead in his tracks.

There was a face... a face he recognized. Rebecca Miyamoto!

"I... know that brat," the swan boy murmured, slight anger crossing his features.

"Really?" The inquisitive Windia, who was by now poking one of the aliens ("Cut it out." the alien griped.), turned her head to the swan. "Does that mean you've been to this world before?"

"I think so. I've been able to transcend time with these universes though, so I can't be entirely certain," Cygnus sat down. He looked at the captain. "You've been monitoring this girl?"

Somewhat surprised at the man's sudden change in demeanor, the alien captain stuttered a bit before answering. "W-why yes! We were just here collecting data before she disappeared on us and we were rudely pillaged by dimension-breaking space pirates!"

"Well excuuuuuuse me prince!" Cygnus snarled. "But I now have a vested interest in your monitoring station now. If you let us join you, not only will I _not_ eviscerate you, but I'll also return the stuff I stole, _plus_ perhaps help you locate that brat."

The aliens exchanged looks before huddling together. Apparently they needed a game plan.

"What do we do? He can obviously take us all out if we tried to beat him up," one of the aliens whispered.

"But he's actually offering some sort of help for our crisis!" Another one pointed out.

"Hmph, it's either get extra baggage which may assist us in the long run, or get torn to shreds. Sounds like a deal I can't refuse," the captain concluded.

"I suppose."

"Not like we have any say in the matter, but hey."

"You quiet down!" The captain rose out of the huddle and spun towards Cygnus and Windia. "Very well. You have a deal."

"Muu... sounds boring," Windia muttered, puffing up her cheeks.

"More like epic opportunity!" Cygnus crowed. "Don't worry, we'll be getting in on the action soon enough."

"I'll hold you to that," She leered at him, though there was a smile growing on her face.

"Instead of running around like chickens, why don't we monitor Peach Moon for a while?" the captain suggested. "It might give us clues."

One alien started, "Sir, that was my ide—" -BAM- a sudden gust of wind sent him crashing into a wall. "Ouch!"

"Thank you," The captain hummed.

"You're welcome!" Windia smiled.

Cygnus simply sighed. "I see this could be a very long ride." He stood up again. "...but it'll be worth it. If I'm back here... _truly_ back here... then I can see her again."

"Who...?" This got stares from everyone in the ship.

"...Rokugou."

* * *

Night cast its gloomy shadow over this strange land known as Peach Moon. Even the beautiful stars and fully lit moon could not dissuade the feeling of dread a girl felt as she made her way to her school. Quietly, this tall girl tiptoed onto school grounds, nervously clawing at her long, black hair.

The usual howling of wolves, predictable as it was, still spooked her as she crawled under the metal gate with surprising finesse. She stepped through the grounds, weary that anything from anywhere could attack. However, despite those growing fears, she would not be dissuaded.

She would complete this dare, idiocy be damned!

Her friends... if she could call them that, felt she was a fool... a space case, at that. She'd never know love, even as fair as she was. However, she could rectify that by putting herself in some "earthly" danger... go visit this school at night! Recent rumors claim the place being a haven to monsters at night, and perhaps the reason why that tiny teacher disappeared! As a stern believer of those monsters, she was going to bring back proof! There would be no stopping her this night!

What luck! The window was conveniently open! Marveling at the ease that she managed to make it in, she smiled softly to herself. Her life didn't have much good luck. And apparently, it was already running out.

While she got in okay, navigating this dark and now unholy place was another matter. She walked slowly, listening closely to the sound of her own footsteps. So far, there was nothing. Just empty school hallways. There was no darkness that appeared here... though in truth, that's bad news.

You see, this place had already eclipsed itself in darkness.

Suddenly, the girl spotted something... a faint and ethereal presence. Was it...? Could it be...?

She looked closer. A faint outline of a ghost. The shape was so _vague_ though... BUT AT LAST, IT WAS PROOF! The outline of it too, it felt so familiar... All she had to do was get closer—

She did not like that squishing sensation on her left foot. Wearily, she looked down.

It wasn't a dead body or even some unidentifiable mush... it was darkness. And the darkness was already crawling up her leg, swirling around her body. She tried to scream, but darkness swirled and filled her mouth, silencing her. She tried to scramble from the poisonous dark mass, but it proved futile. She couldn't be eaten here, she couldn't die here!

She reached out a hand to that pale spirit... was it even a spirit? Too consumed by the darkness to even cry for help, it was all she could do before she drowned in that darkness.

* * *

Dammit... too late!

Just a tad too slow. That poisonous darkness was faster than he imagined.

Adjusting his top hat, the Black Rose Baron stood atop the main tower, gazing down where the chaos transpired. "As I thought," the baron whispered. "This place is the last spot, the gathering place of all that darkness. But why?" With the cape billowing out, the Black Rose Baron gazed off at the moon, apparently in one of those badass shounen poses. "But I know it's here."

Hiding a dismayed frown, the Baron continued his soliloquy. "Miyamoto, this is no time to hide. He will come for you. I'm sure of it." With that, the Baron took yet another dramatic sweep of the cape before leaping off into the night, disappearing in a burst of black rose petals.

* * *

So now, the stage is set! This eve of chaos will give way to a new dawn of sorrows! But don't worry kids! Remember, I am Negima!?, and SO CAN YOU!


	2. Invitation of a Crazed Peach Moon

**Nightmare?!**

**Episode 1: "Invitation of a Crazed (Peach) Moon!" by Haruna**

Many members of class 3-A knew something was wrong the moment Asuna and Konoka came in, face etched partway between frustration and dejection. Normally, Negi showed up to class right behind them, readying his notes or just looking cute, but today...

Something was up. Five minutes of waiting, and everybody BUT Negi Springfield was here. What was the meaning of this? There were voices of confusion and concern rising slowly from the class, though no one moved to stop them. However, it was Nodoka Miyazaki who finally brought the raging question to light."So where is Negi-sensei?" she asked quietly, The concerned mutterings grew louder as a result.

"He's probably just held up somewhere!"

"Maybe he went on a detour?"

"Oh no, what if her got kidnapped by the seniors?!"

"Oi! Don't start fearmongering just yet!"

"Hmm?" Kazumi Asakura leered over in Asuna and Konoka's direction, noting their dejected faces. "You guys seem awfully down. Got any clue on the whereabouts of Negi-sensei?"

Asuna just sighed and sank. Konoka took a deep breath.

"Negi-kun's... not here," Konoka announced quietly but dramatically.

"WHAT?!" Class 3-A exclaimed at this shocking news.

"Why is this?" Class President Ayaka Yukihiro stood up, unusually composed for this sitaution. Nevertheless, she gazed at Konoka with seriousness and intensity. "Did he not inform you of where he was going?"

"Why didn't you stop him?!" Makie Sasaki cried.

"Trust me, we _tried_," Asuna muttered. "There was nothing we could do. Kept ranting about a family emergency or something like that. He was out the door before I could even try to restrain him!"

"This is troublesome indeed..." Asakura muttered, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "But..." She pulled out her camera, grinning madly. "This could be the scoop of the ages! Child teacher flees mysteriously last night! Details unknown!"

"There must be a way we can find him," Ayaka concluded instead, slowly losing her cool. "Or at least catch up to him. He couldn't have gone very far!"

"Oi, class pres, don't blow a gasket!" Asuna snarled, not in the mood for these shenanigans.

"Why you—"

"You should probably relax," A gentle but piercing voice interrupted the chaotic fervor. "Negi Springfield assures me that he will return. No clue on when he's returning, mind you," A man walked in, dressed in business casual. Everything about him screamed "fair". Fair hair, fair face, fair grading policy—well, dunno about the last one, but you get the point, yes? "but he will return."

Playing the diplomat before any of her classmates could be rude, Ayaka spoke. "Are you our substitute teacher, by any chance?"

The man showed slight surprise, but kept his smile. He introduced himself. "Of course, I will be taking over teaching you English in his absence. You may call me Seruhiko-sensei. I of course, will still be administering the test he composed and warned about last week, so please take your seats..." This was met with a few groans but otherwise little other objection. There was still a slight tension in the air.

Those who knew of magic exchanged weary looks as their substitute began passing out the test. This definitely meant a Chupacabra Research Club meeting after school.

* * *

"Why are we having a Chupacabra Research Team meeting _now_, of all times?!" Setsuna Sakurazaki asked, her face contorted with frustration. "Do you know how chaotic this is?! We can't feasibly separate from those lunatics and search for Negi-sensei! We don't even know where to even start looking!"

"Secchan, calm down," Konoka smiled nervously, rubbing her friend's back. "We called this meeting precisely _because_ we're the only ones who can piece where Negi-kun went."

The small and cozy club room that served as a not-so-secret meeting place for Negi's partners felt a bit more tense this day. The usual crowd of Negi's followers sat around the long table, discussing their next move. While Setsuna had complained that their movement would be easily detected, had she calmed down, she would have noticed that nobody who was oblivious to magic was anywhere near the club room. "Oh, that's so wonderful to point out." Setsuna muttered, letting Konoka calm her nerves. Hey, you asked for it.

"It's actually quite worrying," Akira Ookouchi muttered. "Why would Negi-sensei disappear like this?"

"Did he say anything to you guys?" Makie asked.

"The only thing he said to us that I didn't mention in front of everybody else was 'Good luck, Asuna, I'll see you soon,'" Asuna answered, rubbing her forehead as if it would help retrieve that information. "It sounds like he's expecting us to follow him somehow." She then snarled. "It'd be _nice_ if he gave us _more tips than that_ if he expects us to follow him!"

"We can't just leave, you know," Yue Ayase pointed out, sipping a concoction that would likely poison the average stomach. "Us disappearing in a large group like this would make the rest of the class suspicious."

"Yep, and we all know that won't fly." Haruna Saotome pointed out with a smirk. "We'll have to find a way to dupe the class if we're gonna leave campus."

"She's right," Asuna added. Swiftly, she snatched some chalk from the bottom rung of the blackboard and began writing with it. "Okay, plan of action! How do we sneak out?"

"Blow up dolls!" Makie cheerily suggested. "We replace ourselves with blow up dolls!"

"Go home," Yue muttered.

"Why can't we just walk out?" The tiny Narutaki twins Fuuka and Fumika asked. Fumika continued. "They're in such a mess right now I doubt they'd notice..."

"3-A does _not_ work that way," Haruna shot that notion down. "They are some paranoid motherf—"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" The twins cried.

"But I'm only talking about 3-A!" Haruna shrugged with a smug grin.

"This isn't helping at all!" Yue muttered in a cynical tone, breaking the reference combo. Ah, somehow, their bickering strikes a pang of nostalgia...

"That's nice," Konoka ignored the bickering and smoothly rolled back onto the subject. "Anyone have any other suggestions?"

"I could use paper clones," Kaede Nagase suggested. "Making shikigami of all of you wouldn't be too hard, and as long as they don't get wet, they'll be good."

"But knowing 3-A, I bet at least one of them gets fed after midnight," Asuna grumbled. "And before you know it, all of them are then starring in a new striptease game!"

"Gauuugghhh..." Everyone in the room blanched at the thought. This was going nowhere at the speed of Sonic. So what now?

"In a word... _Mechakoopas_." A voice announced as if this was the best idea since sliced bread. Hey wait a goddamn second! How come sliced bread is so awesome anyway?

Enough about that since everyone else in the room stopped.

Finally, after processing this random factoid of impossibility, Setsuna spoke. "You have to be kidding me." She, as well as the others, turned to a relaxed and amused Misora Kasuga.

The speedy prankster was leaning back her feet on the table and a massive grin plastered on her face. "I kid you not. Chao thought ahead, so she's currently doing the finishing touches on some inventions of hers."

"How's that gonna work?" Asuna asked.

"You ever think why nobody's been bothering you yet?" Misora countered with her own question, keeping her grin as she straightened herself out. "Chao's plan is at work. Already she's inspired Asakura to entertain the rest of the class!"

"Do we even want to know how that works?" Setsuna asked. Of course you do! Now let's change scenes for a bit...

* * *

"Negi-sensei! PLEASE COME BACK TO US!" Ayaka pleaded to the camera.

Along with several members of her class, Ayaka sat on a live stage, surrounded by several of her classmates. It was all thanks to the epic hijacking skills of Asakura and a bit of "persuasion" for the Mahora Studio Group at the hands of Mana Tatsumiya. The sniper took to the back, along with strange green machinations with silly faces controlling the cameras. That genius girl Chao Lingshen called them "Mechakoopas" or something.

"Negi, we know we can be unruly sometimes, but please come back!" One of the cheerleader trio, Sakurako Shiina pleaded.

"If you come back, I promise I'll give you back those boxers!" Yuuna Akashi also added.

Everyone else looked at Yuuna as if she had declared that she banged Negi Springfield.

"What?" She asked innocently.

"If this reaches someone who has Negi-sensei against his will, please don't hurt him," Chizuru Naba said sweetly and earnestly. "I haven't even had a chance to have fun with him yet!" At once, everyone gave Chizuru the same looks they gave Yuuna. Hey, 3-A! Tell us how you_ reeeeaaally_ feel!

* * *

"They're seriously going to broadcast a live video..." Asuna blinked, after hearing Misora's scarily accurate account of what the rest of 3-A pleaded on live video. There were a few uncomfortable stares before Asuna merely concluded, "Ha ha oh wow."

"This is only gonna work for about a day before they notice you guys sneaking around. We need to get moving," Misora concluded, wagging her finger in a style reminiscent of a blue hedgehog.

"Where?" Nodoka asked.

"Peach Moon, of course!" This, however, did not leave Misora's lips. Rather, the bouncing cat Shichimi and Motsu bellowed those words as they appeared on Misora's shoulders. Shichimi, of course, continued to bob to some invisible beat even the world's greatest musicians could never hope to discover.

"Peach..." Fuuka began.

"...Moon?" Fumika ended, as such the fashion for the twins.

"Hey wait, isn't that the school Miyamoto brat comes from?" Asuna queried, thinking back to previous conversations with the other tiny teacher. Then a thought hijacked her mind. "Hold it, wait a damn minute! You mean to tell us that Negi went there?!"

"That's correct!" Motsu noted. "In a good way."

"Why did he go?" Nodoka continued the parade of Twenty Questions.

"Rebecca Miyamoto has gone missing. Possibly in a bad way."

This wasn't met well—the magic knowing crowd exchanged worried glances and mutterings. Somebody gunning for Rebecca meant really bad news if Negi felt it so urgent to leave before even notifying anyone. Though how smoothly he managed to replace himself as a teacher sounded quite suspicious... Konoka tilted her head in worry. "Someone trying to hurt Becky... that doesn't leave many suspects, but..." Suddenly, she shot a finger towards Misora and the annoying mascots. "Did my grandfather or you put him up to that task?!"

"Huh? Why would _I_ do that?" Misora reeled back from the accusation.

"Negi chose that on his own," Shichimi responded. "The Dean had no hand on Negi's decision, mya."

"That so..." Konoka drifted off.

"Well then! Let's go after Negi-kun!" Makie cheered. "To Peach Moon!"

"She's got a point," Asuna said. "What else is there to do but tail Negi brat to Peach Moon?"

"Let's do this!"

"Me too!"

"Easier said that done," Misora slammed her fist into the table to command everyone's attention. Once everyone was looking at her, her face became serious. "Chao's planning for some full body replacements, but there's only room for six of you. Any higher than that, it'll be too suspicious. You don't even have time to fight amongst yourselves right now," Misora got her grin back and folded her arms. "Pick wisely, then."

If Misora expected cooperation between the girls in such short notice, she would have been disappointed. Groups of girls immediately began to leer at each other like prey instead of friends, growling and snarling like exaggerated beasts—apparently even Negi's closest confidants weren't immune to the effect. But since Misora wasn't expecting things to go smoothly, she just grinned. Oh, you evil troublemaker!

Konoka, however, rained on any parade of brewing jealousy. "Okay okay!" She clapped her hands. "It's obvious we should stack this according to who needs the most support where!"

"Ojou-sama..." Setsuna trailed amazed at her steadily increasing leadership skills.

"Whoa, talk about suddenly changing strides!" Misora nearly fell out of her seat in surprise. However, it wasn't like any plan she made was ruined. Grinning, she continued. "Why don't you tell me what you think then?"

"Okay then!" Konoka twirled happily before puffing her cheeks and making a face as serious as she could. "Obviously, Asuna has to go. She wouldn't have a peace of mind if lil' bro Negi-kun did any funny business with Becky-sensei!"

"GEH." General response.

"W-what are you talking about?!" Flustered Asuna.

"Hahaha, seriously! Anyway, thanks to the evidence we have so far, it's likely Cygnus-han has returned. Secchan and I will be going, since we're the only ones that can deal with him." Konoka added.

"Whoa, hold it!" Haruna suddenly shot up. "What's with you two, and why are you so dedicated to fighting him? Do you have any idea how dangerous he is?!"

"Of course we do," Setsuna answered solemnly. "But we're the only ones who can stop him if he pulls anything drastic. Negi-sensei and Becky-sensei nearly died at his hands last time. You could say we're fated to fight him."

"But still..." Haruna suddenly bit back. It... wasn't worth it. Not now. Smiling wearily, she said, "Then come back alive, okay?"

"Don't worry, Haruna-san!" Konoka smiled cheerily. "You haven't been training with your pactio, so you have to stay here." Haruna paled as Konoka mercilessly and figuratively stabbed her with the dagger of minus five importance.

"You... you superior villain!" Haruna hissed as her jaw dropped with her ego.

"Looks like I have to stay here, make sure she doesn't turn the remnants of 3-A into a harem," Yue muttered. "I trust Rei will keep you guys sane, right?"

"I'll st-stay here too..." Nodoka said shyly and reluctantly.

"_You're going_," Haruna, Yue, and Konoka said at the same time for completely different reasons. Nodoka reeled back at first, but calmed down and began to think about it.

"Nodoka has knowledge we might need," Konoka reasoned.

"And you can't lose to Becky-sensei!" Haruna added, gaining her mischievous grin back.

"Go to ease yourself," Yue said simply, smiling softly.

Her confidence renewed, Nodoka clenched her fists. "In that case, I will assist Negi-sensei!"

"That's right!" Konoka continued her spiel. "Now... Misora!" Konoka whirled around to the relaxed girl. "I'm assuming Chao has to stay here to maintain the machines, which means you have to stay here too!"

"Aw drat, you saw right through me," Misora mock grumbled, as if she were a child being dragged to bed by her mother.

"Kaede-san... we don't know if any troubles will remain here while we're all gone, so you should stay here as well."

"I see," Kaede said. "Can't fault you with that."

"I don't want to leave Kaede-nee!" Fuuka cried.

"We'll stay here too!" Fumika concluded the twins' thoughts.

"Mm-hmm! That sounds about what I expected," Konoka nodded vigorously.

"Then by extension..." Akira began.

"...that means Akira-san and I are going?" Makie concluded, her excitement rising.

"Yep!" Konoka smiled cheerily. "The six of us are the best bet in following Negi-sensei, especially in a worse case scenario if Becky-sensei's students can't help us for any reason. So..." Konoka turned to Misora. "How's that for team logic?"

Misora laughed. "Guess I can't fault your logic, so here," she fished in her pockets for a moment. Pulling out six tickets, she tossed them towards the people Konoka had picked to go to Peach Moon. "Congratulations, you're all witches now!"

"I thought we were going to Peach Moon, not Hogwarts," Nodoka blinked, somehow managing to keep a straight face.

"Killjoy," Misora muttered. "Anyway... head straight there from here. Chao will deliver some overnight stuff for you once you get a place to stay."

The girls exchanged looks. Asuna however took the lead once more. "You heard the woman! Let's move!"

"Good luck, you guys!" Fuuka cheered.

"Say hello to Peach Moon for us!" Haruna winked.

Without wasting a minute, Asuna led the chosen six through the outside doors, making a quick and stealthy exit into the outside world.

Peach Moon, here we come!

* * *

Before we dash off into the adventures of Asuna Kagurazaka and the Neo Baka Rangers, lets rewind a bit to that morning... elsewhere. Of course, where else would I be talking about other than the epic school in question, Peach Moon.

Unlike Mahora, this place was far more public—or at least, as public as Japanese high schools got anyway. There was always an aura of strangeness to it—animals walking free, troublemakers, assorted things going wrong (or right). Females students wore bright pastel yellow uniforms compared to Mahora's much darker selection. Boys, on the other hand, wore black school uniforms. How unlucky, huh?

But that strangeness was muted this morning. Why so?

Rumor has it a new teacher is on the block.

There was a scramble of footsteps heard out in the hallway before the door slid open. "BIG NEWS! BIG NEWS!" One Himeko Katagiri barreled through the classroom, only to trip on a desk and crash magnificently into the ground, bowling over several desks while she was at it. Three random boys in the front were so impressed they held up rating cards bearing "10", "9.5", and "gr8.8". The girl groaned as the single strand of fool's hair on her head spun around like a helicopter blade.

"Yet again, Himeko?" Sayaka Suzuki peered down at her fallen classmate with gentle blue eyes and face, remembering a time in which Himeko also crashed into the room with big news. "You might have to update your insurance..."

Himeko looked up, her usually cheery face slightly sad. "But I have big news! _They found a replacement for Becky_!"

"What?! They did?!" Was the general shocked response of the entire classroom. The noise settled down to concerned whispers.

"They finally settled on a substitute for Becky, huh..." Kurumi Momose sighed sadly. Unfortunately aside from looking pretty, she lacked distinguishing features ("HEY!"). "I hope this doesn't mean she's gone for good."

"That obnoxious PTA would be pleased that Becky's getting replaced." The red-headed Miyako Uehara muttered, her forehead shining ominously. "But I won't be. There has to be something going on..."

"Probably..." Rei Tachibana added, adjusting her huge glasses.

"Hey Rei..." Kurumi turned around slowly to face her classmate. "Have you heard from that Chao girl?"

"Not since last week. She says she was busy with a couple of projects," Rei answered. "I just better hope that I don't need a transformation any time soon." She shrugged.

There was a jingling of bells. Ichijou was there. Brown eyes, blue uniform that defied convention, strange pseudo-ponytail. "Why don't we try a plot device?"

"We don't need your stinking plot device right now!" Miyako snapped.

"Suit yourself," There was a chime of bells. Ichijou was no longer there.

But the bickering stopped here, as tinier but somehow commanding footsteps could be heard from the hall. The door opened. The class stopped. All that could be heard was the rhythmic tapping of feet. Nobody outside the front row saw anything, and considering nobody important was on the front row, the person walking in remained a mystery.

But then this person stepped up on top of the desk, so the class could see in full view. A red-haired boy in a business suit, carrying a staff twice his height.

The six girls out of Becky's class recognized him instantly.

"You're _joking_," Miyako slammed her hand on the desk, a bit overexcited.

"_Oh_, this just got a lot more interesting," Rei pushed up her glasses, a grin forming on her face.

"Hello, everyone of class 1-C! My name is Negi Springfield." The boy announced in a kind and yet serious tone. "I will be teaching class 1-C in Miss Rebecca Miyamoto's absence. Some of you may know me, and I wish we could meet again in better circumstances. Rest assured, however, Ms. Miyamoto will return."

There was a moment of silence.

After that moment of silence, the Negi Springfield effect kicked in, and nearly every girl in the classroom swarmed him with hugs. "G-g-g-gaahh!" Negi easily fell under the weight of several girls smothering him with affection for no other reason than the fact that he is Negi Springfield. Every guy in the room exchanged confused (and probably jealous) looks. Damn, I am making Negi sound like some sort of underaged Stu right now, aren't I.

"Negi-sensei, it's so good to see you again!" Kurumi cheered.

"Oh Negi-sensei! So omega awesome for you to come here!" Himeko sashayed happily. However, there was a touch of that rare seriousness in her voice when she added, "Please, help return Becky to us!"

Through all the crushing hugs, Negi gave an earnest smile. "I promise." This was met with smiles so figuratively bright even blind men could see them. But... "But could you first get off me so I can teach? That'd help a lot, you know." A few embarrassed remarks later, and the girls scrambled into their seats. With that, Negi finally stood, ready to educate the class with what little power he could... for now.

However, through Negi's arrival, there were those who perhaps, knew ahead of time, or at least, gave a separate set of good news.

A cheery faced woman in the back of the classroom smiled. Unlike everyone else in the room, she wore a frilly maid outfit for reasons yet unknown. Speaking into some hidden device, she whispered, "Negi Springfield is here~. Shall I guide him when this is over?" After listening for a bit, she grinned. "In that case, please be prepared!"

And last, but not least, there was yet another girl. She differed yet again from everyone else. The pleasant camaraderie felt by everyone did not touch her. "Negi Springfield... why does that name fill me with... sadness? Jealousy?" Her haunting blue eyes gazed towards the front as she gently clawed her long, black hair...

* * *

"And that is the reason why you do not skin a boar with your teeth," Negi concluded his lesson for the day. "Please study your course packets and bear with me. I largely teach English, so quite a few of these subjects are still new to me. And Siegfried Adolphus Buckston IV-san, no, my aura is not out to get you." Most of the class filed up to leave, giving cursory waves and admiration. There were two girls who eyed him a bit longer than he expected (and what was up with that maid suit on one of them?!), but he simply smiled and waved them off.

However, when all was said and done, six faces still remained in the classroom. They were all faces Negi recognized from their previous adventures in Mahora. "Hello everyone. Long time, no see!"

"Nice to see that you've come here," Rei said. "And here we thought we were getting somebody awesome." When Negi felt his heart get stabbed by a figurative pointy object, Rei laughed. "Just kidding."

"I came as soon as I could," Negi straightened himself out as the group walked outside the classroom and journeyed out of the building. "When I heard Becky went missing, I figured you girls could possibly be in danger as well... that's why I transferred over here."

"The paperwork must've gone by pretty fast," Rei remarked, easily keeping in step with the boy.

"The principal here helped me out. A weird fellow, but I guess he's nice," Negi said. "Wonder why a National Monument lizard speaks for him, though."

"Don't ask _us_, we have yet to figure that one out," Miyako grumbled as she pushed the doors open leading outside.

At long last, the third annoying mascot popped out, yawning as if he had just woken up. "Man, I was tuckered out from last night!" Chamo looked around and saw the six girls from Peach Moon... and the changed surroundings. "Hey ladies! Whoa, big bro! Where are we?"

"It's the ermine thing," Rei noted with slight disinterest. "How convenient. Does this mean you're going to expand your pactios, Negi-sensei?" To which Negi immediately stuttered his answer, "No no! I have no intention of the sort!"

"Hey Chamo," Kurumi greeted pleasantly. "You're on our school now. Negi-sensei came here to look for Becky."

"Whoa, how'd I miss this?!" Chamo nearly shouted in surprise.

By now, the group was nearing a local playground as the sun began to sink below the horizon. A few birds could be heard in the distance, but other than that, there was only a peaceful silence, heralding the evening.

Chamo looked around heatedly. "Hey Asuna-nee-san, what do you... hey wait a minute! Big bro, where are the others?"

"Back at home," Negi answered sheepishly. "I left in a hurry. I'd rather not get them involved in what's going on, but knowing them, they'd strong-arm their way here. So I left them a guide... No clue on when they'll get here though."

"Next episode." Ichijou fiercely concluded from the opening of a random tree trunk.

"_What_." Everyone stole the words right out of my mouth.

"They'll be here by next episode," Ichijou insisted in that deadpan voice of hers.

"Somebody get rid of her before she infects us with stupid," Rei muttered.

Surprisingly enough, it was Rokugou who simply closed the compartment to the desk, shutting Ichijou out. Upon a second inspection, one would find she was no longer there. The girl chalked it up as Ichijou's usual weirdness and simply went back to the conversation.

"Anyway, you sure you can do alright without them?!" Chamo said.

"Chamo-kun, I already have a pactio with four of these girls," Negi pointed towards the Peach Moon girls. Strangely, in a twist of irony, it was the two girls who _didn't_ pactio with Negi that blushed instead. Himeko tilted her head in "maho" induced confusion at Rei and Rokugou. "I'm pretty sure we can hold out until Asuna-san and the others get here."

"I see, I see!" Chamo rubbed his chin. He then turned to the girls. "I hope you ladies are feeling confident in your strength. I get a certain air of trouble and weirdness around here."

"Are you talking about this school?" Miyako raised an eyebrow. "That's normal. Weird ass things happen all the time here!"

"Really?" Negi asked.

"Should we tell them about the time somebody planted a bomb on Mesousa's head?" Kurumi turned to her friends.

"I don't think we should discuss things like that on Negi sensei's first day here," Rokugou smiled nervously upon seeing Negi and Chamo flinch in horror. "Hmm... Negi-sensei, where are you staying?"

"I don't know just yet..." Negi sheepishly answered. However, this conversation got inconveniently derailed, as something nasty kicked in. Negi's staff shined, warning him of a dark power nearby.

This was going to be ugly.

"Huh? What's that?" Himeko defied the laws of nature by being the first to notice.

Negi swallowed hard. "Darkness."

"Could it be—?!" Rokugou gasped.

"Oi, LOOK!" Chamo pointed furiously ahead of them.

Indeed, there was a conspicuous blue... door in front of them. An ornate and creepy design shined on it—perhaps being something resembling a castle door. A shining red orb stood at its center, from which several white tendrils grew from it and eclipsed the door.

Negi blinked. "What... is that?"

"Something about that door screams 'boss fight', but that could be just me," Miyako muttered. "It's practically beckoning us, too."

"It's the door of the year," Rokugou added.

"But it could be a trap!" Kurumi shivered in fear. "...are we sure this is Japan?!"

"No choice but to go innn!" Himeko paraded in a singsong voice. And without hesitation, she marched to the door. With her approach, the tendrils unfurled around the door, and the red orb disappeared. The door opened, rising from the ground. Ignoring the foreboding mist exuding from the bottom, Himeko happily trotted to her doom.

"Himeko!" Negi shouted. "That's dangerous!" He immediately followed her in, running inside. Reluctantly, the other girls followed suit.

* * *

Inside was another matter, for you see, they were back at the playground.

On first inspection, nothing seemed out of place. The slide, the swings, the jungle gym, they were a perfect replica of the world outside. However, looking closer amongst the surroundings noted things were very wrong. The trees around looked dead, if not gnarled completely. The sky looked hazy. And the slide was a rustic blood red instead of the primary, gentler red.

A creepy illusion, if Negi ever saw one.

As soon as Rokugou, who brought up the lead, stepped in, the door slammed down, and the white tendrils and red orb returned, overtaking the door. Upon seeing this, the blue-haired lass tried to open the door again, to no avail. "We're trapped inside!"

"I knew it!" Kurumi shivered. Not liking her surroundings one bit, she whispered. "We're still in Japan, right? Right?"

"I couldn't tell you, Momose-san," Negi whispered. "This place is certainly an illusion, I _can_ tell you that."

Himeko, happily skipping around as if nothing was going on, frolicked about the sand, not having a care in the world, but suddenly...

Atop the jungle gym sat a boy. A large, fat, intimidating boy, with a tiny blond mohawk. Himeko looked up and saw him leering down upon the small group. Take a guess on what she said. "Maho?" No prizes for you if you guessed right.

"Why hello there. I take it you're interested in my territory dot com," The boy spoke, his nasally but purely evil voice rattling even the jaded Rei.

"Haven't I seen you before, maho?" Himeko tilted her head in confusion.

"Yes you have, but here, I am made of boss fight and awesome dot com," The boy continued. Negi noticed that his tongue was literally like a snakes, slithering about as if it had a mind of its own. "I was told if I defeat you, I will be made of even more awesome." This boy chilled them all to the soul as he stood up. "Prepare yourself dot com!"

Negi clenched his teeth. As he thought... darkness was here.

**-X-X-X-  
**

**OMAKE!**

"Oi, Takamichi." Evangeline A.K. MacDowell muttered as she saw the grizzled man watch a movie. "You know Negi-bouya went off to that lunatic school, right?"

"Yep," Takamichi turned to face the blond vampire. "Why are you pointing this out?"

"3-A's gone crazy. I'm not bothering to go to class if they're going to be this batshit. Seruhiko's barely any better than Negi's first days here." She looked past him for a moment to see the movie. "What are you watching?"

"Dracula. Forget which version, though."

"That Dracula always struck me as a moron," Evangeline hissed. "His opening attack is always those goddamn fireballs-from-the-cape! _And every single bimbo and their grandmother learned to dodge it the first time through_! Can't he learn some new tricks?!"

"Eva, are we even talking about the same Dracula?"

* * *

(Haha, welcome to the weekly installment of Nightmare!?! Please enjoy the run, and don't be afraid to drop some concrit!)

NEXT TIME: "Those That Hunt The Night Don't Get Any Sleep!" By Asuna


	3. Those Who Hunt the Night Don't Sleep!

**Nightmare?!**

**Episode 2: "Those That Hunt The Night Don't Get Any Sleep!" by Asuna**

Negi clenched his teeth. As he thought... darkness was here.

As he thought, the fat boy was the source of the magic illusion he and his new students now found themselves in. So soon after arriving here... had the darkness already caught on to his presence? This couldn't be right at all...

"This is a bit different, big bro," Chamo whispered. "It looks more like the darkness has made some sort of contract."

"You're Yankee, right?" Kurumi ventured, still shivering from fear. "Why are you attacking us?"

"I haven't started yet!" The huge boy known as Yankee answered, somewhat confused. "And as I said before, if I attack you, I become more awesome dot com! Now..." The boy rose and lumbered down until he was level with Negi and the others. With one well placed swat, he sent a rail from the jungle gym sailing from his end to Negi's. The stray bar nearly impaled him and Rei, had they not panicked and sidestepped the sudden attack.

"Dah!" Rei flinched in horror.

"He's serious!" Miyako interjected.

"No choice now," Negi said, preparing his staff.

"Are you prepared yet dot com?" Yankee, despite being possessed by the darkness, was rather patient outside of his initial strike.

"Wait a minute... Where's Ichijou?!" Rei looked around, rather confused by her absence.

A chime of bells. "I'm right here," Ichijou popped out of a hole in the tree, holding a cellphone to her ear. "I'm on the phone right now though, I'm trying to get a pactio."

"The hell are you talking about? You don't have a pacti—" Rei started, but before she could finish, Ichijou poofed in a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, Ichijou was no longer Ichijou, but an alien jellyfish with threatening pincers and Ichijou's head. "...oh."

"Wow, I got a failure," Suka Ichijou pointed with little to no emotion. "Now I'm hungry for energy..." She glanced over in Miyako's direction for no apparent reason.

"What?" Miyako noted with irritation and a bit of fear. Her forehead gleamed.

Ichijou was tempted.

Miyako was confused.

Ichijou was still tempted.

Miyako looked at her wearily.

Ichijou attacked Miyako, leeching chaos-knows-what from the red-head's hair, while the latter screamed like a chaotic chicken. "GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFFFFF!" Miyako continued to screech as she ran around helplessly.

"That looks omega bad," Himeko pointed out, but everyone else ignored her.

Yankee continued staring impassively, though he bore what might of resembled a fighting stance.

"Somebody... lend me your power!" Negi cried.

There were a few exchanged looks between the girls, but at last, Kurumi, still shaking, swallowed her fear and stepped forward. "Please count on me. I know I'm scared right now, but I'll lend you my power!"

Negi simply nodded. Holding his staff out, he began to chant. "Partner: Kurumi Momose, show me the power within you..." It had been a while since Negi last used the contract, so the white orb appearing nearly surprised him. However, he remained undaunted as he reached in. "Contract... activate!" Kurumi felt a pin prick deep within her heart as Negi grabbed something within the orb and pulled out a card. At once, the girl shined with powerful energy.

At last, the light died down. Kurumi found herself in a black and red body suit. Her shoes had been replaced by roller skates. Something about her getup seemed quite familiar... "This power... it feels familiar to me..." Her gaze fell on her shadow. Yeah... that Shadow... the one who possessed and guided her to Negi's fold. No wonder! "Oh, I remember! Shadow the Hedgehog!"

"Cosplay card..." Chamo rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Not bad!"

Negi giggled nervously a bit, the name being familiar, but not quite within his memory.

Rei, however, had some more witty lines for that. "Hey Kurumi, know where that _damn_ fourth chaos emerald is?"

"You shut up!" Kurumi retorted hotly.

"Watch it, Kurumi-ane-san! He's coming!" Chamo blurted. Negi gripped his staff tightly.

Yankee rose, lumbering towards them. There was a pause before he wound up a punch and smashed the ground where Kurumi stood...

...well at least, where Kurumi stood a second ago. The girl almost flashed back into existence as she twirled in midair and smashed into Yankee's head with her right foot. He visibly flinched, if only briefly. "Not bad, but..." He grabbed Kurumi's leg. "Not good enough dot com!" He slung her away with frightening ease.

"Gyyaa!" Kurumi sailed from the playground and crashed into the grass. However, the girl immediately flipped up and landed back on her feet. "Not good enough for you either!"

Yankee only answered by lumbering in her direction and aiming a hand, letting a massive chop just drop to the ground. Kurumi easily evaded but even she could see the ground shake from his impact. About this time though, Negi sailed in, spell at the ready. "AMORIS!" A blast of flames shot at the boy, licking him for a bit of damage. "Eh, not good enough with fire spells..." Negi hissed to himself.

Kurumi leapt forward into what looked like a hand spring, only to press down and extend her legs. Swirling like a spinning top, the blades on her skates became a whirling, deadly frenzy, slicing into Yankee with more ease than either of their previous attacks did.

While effective, though, the boy merely absorbed the attack. He only answered with one word: "Nice." There was an unsettling sound as the boy opened his mouth wide. That literal snake tongue slithered out... extending its length and growing larger as it struck Kurumi like a scorpion's tail. The girl stumbled a bit, but warped back on her feet again.

Still, as Negi swooped in for another attack, He saw that Kurumi was struggling slightly to stand. She couldn't keep this up for much longer. He curled his fist before firing a volley of light arrows in Yankee's direction. Of course, the huge boy swatted them away with ease.

"Oi!" Rei shouted from the sidelines. "You won't get anywhere just throwing crap at him! Hit his face harder!"

"Go Negi! Negi-sensei! Go Negi! Negi-sensei!" Himeko put on a cheerleader routine, pom-poms included. Rokugou shyly assisted her, although her cheers were hard to hear over Himeko's. "Go Kurumi!"

"Hey, how come you two didn't join the cheerleader club?" Rei noted that the two of them were strangely adept at this.

Miyako continued to scream bloody murder as Ichijou the Metroid continued to seep her energy. Nobody cared. How tragic.

Negi and Kurumi smiled. Chamo skittered onto Kurumi's shoulder. "Hey girlie, I have an idea!" He whispered something or other into the girl's ear. She balked in surprise, but nodded anyway. "Big bro, keep back until she calls you!" The ermine instructed.

"Okay." Negi turned back and hovered out of sight from the huge Yankee.

Kurumi then skated forward, still weary and fearful as the boy towered over her. Swallowing that fear as Yankee looked down at her, she then flickered out of sight before reappearing, swinging another kick at his legs. Somewhat effective, but not enough for any lasting damage.

Yankee answered by swiping his hand down on her, narrowly missing. Kurumi continued to wordlessly dance about his feet, trying to trip him up. It wasn't working... the boy's handwork proved to be adequate enough to keep up with her kicks and swift movement.

Yankee grinned. "Smooth, but effectively useless. I will now crush you dot com!" He opened his mouth wide, and that snake came out, slithering until it crashed into Kurumi. The girl grunted in pain as the snake sent her crashing into the ground.

"Kurumi!" Himeko flinched in revulsion.

Yankee didn't bother gloating over his victory. He kept his eyes open for Negi Springfield, looking around the landscape. He tried to retract his tongue—wait a damn second. Urk! He looked down.

Kurumi was there, holding the snake with both hands. "Looks like you just got served dot com," She grinned weakly. "Negi! NOW!"

"Uwwaaahh!" Yankee nearly gagged on his own tongue to try and prepare for another assault and get his tongue back.

Negi sailed into view. With nightmarish speed, he tore towards the boy. By the time Yankee realized his head was far too vulnerable, Negi had already collided with it at 200 miles per hour. Needless to say, Yankee didn't stand a chance.

The sheer force of the blow actually sent Negi skyward, but the boy didn't even miss a beat. Focusing his magic, he chanted once more. "**Weighted light, drag out the darkness. Answer my plea and return this soul to it's normal form!**" He aimed a finger directly at the fallen Yankee. "TEL MA... AMORIS!" His wand shined with light, and at once, a swirl of chaotic darkness exploded from the boy, screeching as it swirled to a small ball before exploding and ceasing to exist. Upon that, Negi fell to the ground, and Yankee disappeared.

There was a swirl of orange energy from nowhere, gathering above Negi and Kurumi... perhaps as proof of their victory over Yankee. As soon as it completely formed into an orange-red orb, it fell towards the earth.

The weakened Kurumi, out of curiosity, touched it, and it disappeared. Moments later, she felt herself rapidly healing.

The doors unlocked and opened. The battle was over.

"Ha, knew it!" Chamo crowed.

"Yaay!" The Peach Moon girls cheered. This even included Miyako, who was pretty much a shriveled woman from all of Ichijou's madness. Negi smiled as he and the girls left the illusionary world.

* * *

Evening was still quietly leaving as Negi found the Peach Moon girls beginning to head in separate directions. "We have to head home sometime, ya know." Rei said to the tiny teacher. "Since you're here, though, I'll let Chao know."

"Thank you..." Negi said. "...but where do I stay?"

"There are some cheap hotels nearby that'll help," Rei waved off his concern. "But I'll leave that to you." And with that, she walked off into the sunset.

"Hey wait, don't go, ladies!" Chamo cried out, but it was futile. Sulking, he went back to his hiding place.

"Back to the normal world!" Himeko cheered as she frolicked amongst the sidewalk back to her home. "See ya later, Negi-kun!" And she too, was gone.

"I've got to get home," Rokugou shyly added. "Mother will get worried if I stay out too late..." She was a bit faster than the others scrambling off out of sight.

"Thank you, Negi-sensei," Both Miyako and Kurumi said, before going off in their own directions. Negi could only stare blankly as he found he was now completely alone... save for Ichijou. The girl merely stared at him mutely, soft eyes interlocking with her own.

"Ermm... Ichijou-san?" Negi blinked, happy, oblivious face turn up to the max.

"I know of a good place where you can rest," Ichijou said.

* * *

"Oh god, we're finally... somewhere close!" Asuna sighed happily, glad that the obnoxiously long train ride was over. The six of them had finally reached the other side of Tokyo, but thanks to obnoxious club delays and Negi's test, they only now made the time to come here. The sky's twilight was fast fading, and the night was coming soon. They had been wandering for roughly an hour; if they didn't want to get lost, or even worse, picked up by some weirdos, they needed to find a place to stay... and quick!

"Muu... how inconvenient for my batteries to die," Konoka lamented. "If we could find where Negi was, we won't have to waste time wandering around, but my cellphone's not working."

"Mine is, and I can't reach him," Asuna muttered. She turned to the rest of the group. "Are you guys all right?"

"I'm good," Nodoka smiled.

"Same here," Akira said, her expression calm as usual.

"I'm just fine, ojou-sama," Setsuna said as per usual, to which Konoka replied, "Call me Kono-chan!" Of course, Setsuna gibbered something about it "not being proper" and being unworthy, which Konoka ignored.

"Ah!" Makie seemed to be taken up by something.

"Huh?"

"What's that?"

"Look!" Makie pointed.

The girls' attention was now focused on a building sitting in front of a woodsy area. The place definitely had a Japanese feel to it, judging by its modest height and the trees around it, and yet... The sign up front read, "Crystal Teardrops Hotel." Yeah, definitely not Japanese.

"Looks emo," Asuna said.

"Looks cool," Akira said.

"Negi-kun might be inside though," Konoka said. "It's the closest hotel to Peach Moon. Let's go in!"

"Alright!" Most everyone else cheered.

"Suspicious..." Asuna hissed, but went alongside her friends anyway.

Upon entering the foyer, however, the girls nearly had to stop. The place had a regal, yet homely feel to it, much like a more rural hotel nearby the lake would have. Makie giggled. "This place is actually kinda cool!" She turned to Akira, who had the appearance of a kid at Christmas. "I take it you like it, too?"

"Uh huh..." Akira said softly.

"Welcome!" The receptionist appeared! Strangely enough, he only looked older than they were by about two years, if that. His smile seemed both genuine and yet fake at the same time, almost like that one guy who was never trustworthy but always good to have around anyway. His dark hair was mostly shoulder length, except for a single ponytail that hung past his left shoulder. "Judging by the blinding shoujo sparkles from that girl, I'd say you're quite interested in staying here, correct?"

Less excited and paranoid than the others, Setsuna was the first to respond. "I suppose so..." She said, her hand touching her chin. "We can't move safely beyond this point."

"Secchan is right! We might as well be comfortable!" Konoka added.

"That's good," the teenager said. "The cleaning staff seems to have a late run around, so I'll let you pick your rooms, okay?"

"Okay!" The girls all said. All of them scrambled upstairs to pick some rooms. When all of them had disappeared, the elder boy picked up a cell phone and began to dial. Upon successfully hearing someone on the other end, he smiled. "Ah, they're all here... Yes, of course, he'll run into them soon. Oh, by the way, who knew that we'd be running into three of the Divine Bloodlines, hmmm?"

* * *

Akira opened a door.

Unlike the other girls, she opted for the ground floor. The room she encountered was a lush and spacious room. She cared not for this, though it was a nice bonus.

No, it was connected to the swimming pool. Akira already loved this place.

Makie, cheery as usual, walked in. "Oh, nice room!" Upon noticing Akira already peeling down her clothes and getting into her swimsuit, however, she then said, "You made a beeline for this room, didn't you?"

"What can I say?" Akira shrugged as she dived into the inside section of the pool.

* * *

Nodoka opened a door.

She came across an unusual sight—she saw Ichijou. While Ichijou is essentially a close encounter of the third kind, there was also a silver-haired boy the same age (or only slightly older) apparently kissing her. He noticed her and waved. "Hiii! Don't mind us!" Ichijou stared impassively, as usual.

Nodoka closed the door.

* * *

Konoka did not open a door. Setsuna did, because she felt that's what she was here for.

"Konoka-ojou sama," Setsuna bowed demurely, showing grace as usual. "You go first."

"Aww, Secchan, you're going overboard again," Konoka admonished gently. "You should re—ah."

"Ojou-sama?" Setsuna noticed her charge stop. She looked into the room and saw a disturbing sight.

Their room was plush, filled to the brim with shiny sparkles just to prove how clean it was. Unfortunately, the room also included two sparkly men. In maid costumes.

One wasn't... that bad. His face was definitely a teenage masculine, with brown hair failing to cover a bandanna. He appeared glum, apparently because despite his face, he could still be mistaken for a woman.

The other... as much as it pains me to mention him, reeked of MANLINESS. There was none within a fifty mile radius as manly as he. He also wore a bandanna, but even that could not restrain the shock of blond hair, just like the maid dress failed to restrain anything resembling manliness from this person. "Oi," he said, poking his smaller counterpart. "Why so glum, we're finally finished!"

"Did you not notice those people that just walked in here?" The dejected boy pointed in Konoka's direction. "_Girls_ saw me in this thing!"

"Ku ku ku! That is why your manliness needs improvement!" The man boasted. "True men remain secure in their manliness no matter what they may find themselves wearing or doing! Connor, do you not remember the words of the great Maid Guy Kogarashi-sensei?!"

"Trust me, _I tried_," this Connor guy responded sardonically. He turned to the ladies. "My apologies for making your eyes bleed, ladies. Unfortunately I can't pay your hospital bills, let Jack do it."

"You might be paying me _your_ hospital bills if you keep that up."

"Strangely, he looks... moe," Setsuna breathed, truly surprised at the situation and her own words. And suddenly, inspiration! "Ojou-sama! Permission to protect this man!" Her face was attempting to gather the manliness flooding the room, but somehow she still failed miserably.

"Hold it, Secchan," Konoka wagged her finger. "We still have Negi-kun and Becky-chan to protect!" She walked to the boy, staring at him intently. _Secchan has learned well from my art of stealth teasing, but let's take it up a notch_, The Kansai mage thought.

"Errmm..." Connor looked quite confused at this development!

"Hey Connor-san, is it?" Konoka giggled. "Would you like to join in a love triangle between me and Secchan?"

Both Connor and Setsuna gave an instant spit-take.

Manly man Jack gave a hearty laugh. _Looks like the little lady is more cunning than she looks._

* * *

Asuna was about to open a door, but instead she noticed a seedy girl in a maid suit, sweeping the floor. She had black hair in very short pigtails, and her glasses ruined every ounce of moe in her body, but this brooding girl paid no mind to that or Asuna. Shrugging, Asuna went on with it.

Asuna opened a door.

Inside was Negi Springfield.

"Asuna-san!" Negi said, both surprised and happy to see her. "You made it all right?"

"Yeah, no thanks to _you_," Within seconds, Asuna had the boy in a headlock, giving him a bone-crushing noogie. "If you gotta split like that, tell us the truth next time!"

"Augh, I'm sorry Asuna-saaan!" Negi yelled in pain. "But this was dangerous and I didn't want the whole class following!"

Asuna stopped the noogie but kept him in the headlock. "Well, at least say hi to the others."

It was then Nodoka stepped in. "Negi-sensei," she said softly and happily, rushing over and wrapping him with a hug. "We're glad you're all right!"

"Thank you, Nodoka-san," Negi said, squeezed in her warm embrace.

"'Sup, ladies!" Chamo popped out again. "Nice for you to swing by. By the way, who else is here?"

Asuna thought for a moment, then counted off. "Konoka, Setsuna, Akira, and Makie. That's all actually. Chao said only the six of us could get away without tipping off the rest."

"I see," Negi said as Nodoka reluctantly ended her embrace. "So that means I have nine contracts here, plus Rei-san can lend a helping hand through Chao. I assume you know why I rushed here in the first place."

"Miyamoto-sensei is missing," Nodoka answered simply, her face grave.

"And earlier today I was attacked by the darkness... the same darkness that comes from the stolen Star Crystal," Negi added, which issued some gasps.

Apparently, there were more than two, as that moment, Makie stormed in. "Negi-kun! Is that true?" Akira followed closely, with Setsuna and Konoka bringing up the rear. Negi noticed the latter two were holding hands. Their bond as partners has grown quite strong...

Makie continued, sitting down nearby. "That crazy darkness is back? Wait... what _is_ that darkness, anyway?"

"Ah, Makie-san, Akira-san, you only joined us during Cygnus-san's attack," Negi said. "To sum it up briefly, just this past term, someone stole something called the Star Crystal from my academy, and has been using its magic to target me for reasons I don't know."

"Eh?!" Makie reeled back.

"Sounds pretty serious," Akira added.

"The power from that thing is insane!" Asuna exclaimed, trying to keep her voice down. "It put us in illusions and it throws fairies at us which can hypnotize people!" She suddenly stopped and stared intently at Makie. The cheery girl leaned back instinctively. "Speaking of which, I think you were one of the victims one time."

"Eeee?!" Makie pressed her hands to her face stereotypical of a horror movie victim. That day, back when Ayaka laid it thick that she was, in fact, a failure. Makie froze in shock from the mere memory of it. "Aaahh..."

"She doesn't have good memories, I take it," Akira murmured. She whirled to Asuna and admonished her gently, "You should apologize."

"Huh? But I..." Asuna started, but seeing Akira's stern face locked onto her, she sighed. "Okay, okay, Makie-san. Sorry." Makie shook off her failure face and returned to normal.

"So Negi-kun," Konoka blinked, bringing the topic back to where it was. "You mean it wasn't Cygnus-han?" Her voice dropped, slightly sullen. "Because I still feel him."

"Oi, this can't be good on any count!" Chamo exclaimed, looking at Konoka. "You mean you feel that crazy swan?!"

The others stared at the girl expectantly, and Konoka slowly nodded. "Hmm..." Chamo said. "We'll have to keep out eyes out... for both forms of darkness then."

"Oh my, I hope you are all okay then," A pleasant voice added. "Sounds like you have a serious mission!"

"Of course we do!" Asuna bellowed. "We're always up to our neck in trouble!"

Wait a goddamn minute.

There was a sudden pause as the crowd found that they had an additional visitor. All mouths hung open in shock as a green-haired lass sat there evenly with them, as if she had been there all along. The pretty lady waved. "Hello there!"

"GAH! WE'VE BEEN EXPOSED!" Chamo screeched.

"Oh no," Akira bit her lip nervously.

"You should not worry, I already know about magic," The woman said. "Besides, those animals are not here with you... yet, anyway." This was met with several exchanged looks from the girls.

Negi, however, found something different. "Ah, you're that strange maid person that was in my class!" He pointed out. "Why are you here?"_ I couldn't even feel her enter here!_ He shouted mentally, as if making a shounen power-level declaration.

"I can't help but notice that you are interested in keeping an eye out for one Rebecca Miyamoto," The charming lady smiled, though her voice sounded serious. "As one who was supposed to keep tabs on the young prodigy, I feel somewhat responsible for her disappearance. I wish to help."

"Really?" Konoka asked. "What do you know about Becky-sensei?"

"And could you tell us more about what happened before she disappeared?" Nodoka added.

The woman thought for a moment. "She didn't say much of anything. All everyone else remembers was a strange form trying to assault Becky the other evening. While she made it out okay, Becky declared that she needed more research and hasn't been seen since."

Negi frowned. From his memories of her after the Cygnus attack, she wasn't one to obsess over research... for something to have caused her to do so, perhaps he didn't know his fellow prodigy as well as he thought. _And if what attacked me earlier was the same thing that tried to take her, she may have started looking into the Star Crystal incident... _Negi sighed. _Why didn't I tell her anything?! Now she and all of her students are involved..._

Noticing Negi suddenly look glum, Nodoka looked in his direction. She leaned close. "Negi-sensei... what's wrong?"

The boy bit his lip. He'd rather not while and be a weakling, but... "It could be all my fault she's gone..."

There was a grunt of irritation. Moments later, Nodoka flinched back as Asuna delivered a custom sucker punch to Negi's head. "Oi! Don't go taking this all up in yourself again! It's almost as bad as that feeling that dork Baron gives you!" Asuna recalled a time shortly before Becky's arrival that the mysterious baron showed up, taunting Negi by refusing to answer any questions, yet still holding the scent of his great father. And yet still, Negi felt guilty for failing to crack the mystery that the Baron posed, who had not been seen since. However, Asuna was having none of that. "Honya-chan, sometimes Negi needs a sucker punch or two so he'll get it together. We're there for him after all!"

Konoka and Setsuna merely exchanged looks. Makie and Akira looked on in awe.

Nodoka stared for a moment before nodding in agreement. "She's right, Negi-sensei, please don't be so hard on yourself!"

Negi looked at his students. Sometimes, it seemed like he was learning from THEM just as much as they learned from him. "Thanks."

"You children are a wonderful team," The woman smiled. "I don't doubt you will find Miss Miyamoto and stand up against whatever may be lurking in our school. But..." She rose. "You best prepare for tomorrow. From this point on, it won't be easy for you... for any of you. After all, the Peach Moon girls are a grade ahead of you."

"EH!?" Asuna and Konoka flinched.

"Oh no..." Makie paled again.

"Bye bye now!" The maid woman happily crowed as she left the room, leaving Negi Springfield and his students to stew in their own worries.

Silence reigned again.

"She is correct, after all," Setsuna said, lifting up a sleepy Konoka. "We must sleep well."

"Get ready, boy and girls!" Chamo said, pumping a tiny fist. "Tomorrow we _fight back_."

"What are you getting pumped for again?"

Chamo shrugged. "I dunno, just felt good to say."

* * *

Hovering just above the atmosphere, the mysterious spaceship was quietly monitoring things as normal.

The aliens were chatting amongst themselves, minus the captain, who was once again, fiddling with something or other. Cygnus was gazing at the monitors, every now and then flipping a switch and changing the view. Windia was giggling and messing with the aliens again, much to their annoyance.

Eventually, the dark-skinned swan man froze for a bit. Something on one of the alien's views caught his interest—the five individuals Negi and his team had met in the hotel were converging on the hotel floor. Staring intently, he saw them all gather, talking with each other and apparently looking badass enough to have a shounen villain gang them going on. The super thick muscle man of the group banged on a bell, only to suddenly crash into the ground as if gravity had quintupled in the last five seconds.

A man reading a book entered the view. Upon that man shutting the book close by merely bringing his hands together, Cygnus finally saw his pleasant face... and snarled. "That boy... I know him too."

"You do, do you?" The alien captain raised an eyebrow.

"That boy inherited the art of that cursed key, so of course I can't forget him!" Cygnus whirled back to the captain, his eyes alight with fervor.

"Oh ho," The alien captain casually thumbed through some sort of text. "He mentioned something about Divine Bloodlines earlier, too."

"Divine... Bloodlines?" This even caught Windia's attention, so she echoed Cygnus's question. The swan boy continued. "What makes you think that's important?"

"According to the script, it's in capital letters, so it has to be important!"

Cygnus groaned. However, he got over it quickly. "Still, this merits an investigation of my own. If you want to continue keeping an eye on Becky, you'll need someone for a hands-on. And of course, that's where I come in. I'll be going down," He rose, his savage grin returning.

"Don't leave me here!" Windia abandoned her pseudo-torment of the aliens and immediately zipped by Cygnus's side, feather sword ready. "I want to join too!"

"Not just yet..." Cygnus said, patting her head. "I'm just doing some personal stuff, that'll be boring for the likes of you. I'll come back when it's your turn, I promise!"

The pristine owl girl sat down, cheeks puffed and thoroughly defeated. "You better come back."

Cygnus grinned and saluted, disappearing into a swirl of darkness as lively as his thoughts. _You won't catch me, Albiero Imma!_

"Wait!" The other aliens cried. "NOOO! Don't leave us with this girl! _Come baaaaack_!" But it was too late, Cygnus was gone.

"What are you spazzing about?" The captain asked, randomly playing a video game.

"If we're left with that girl, _we'll all die of moebeetus_!" The crazy aliens declared.

The captain stared as if they had all told very obscure jokes. "Oh come on! That disease as proven false years ago! " His eyes caught Windia's. The girl was still in an expression of rather cute anger. "See, she can't possibly— HNHHNNGGG!" AND SUDDENLY HE COLLAPSED!

"Captain?! _Captain_?! CAPTAAAIIIINNNN!"

**-X-X-X-**

**OMAKE!**

"Mother! I'm home!" At school, she was known simply as Rokugou. The blue-haired girl easily shed her shoes before venturing further into the house. Speaking of said house, it was rather cozy, being custom built to house as many people in as little space as possible. And considering she had five older siblings who chose to stick around, it was no wonder. Its darker wall colors gave the house a far more earthen and western feel than most nearby houses.

"Sayaka," Her mother greeted pleasantly, having just finished washing the dishes. "You're late." The woman came to where her youngest daughter was. The family resemblance was certainly there—she resembled our blue-haired maiden if she were twice her age, though her eyes were so narrow as to appear closed, and her hair was far longer. "Your brothers and sisters have already gone off to their own activities. Have you been running around with that tiny teacher again?"

"No, mother," the girl now known as Sayaka Suzuki. "A different tiny teacher showed up today... he's the one who Becky helped when she went across town for a month."

"Ah..." The woman was not above preparing a meal for her girl despite her lateness, and in a matter of minutes the girl was eating a nice, warm dinner. As Sayaka ate, suddenly, her mother spoke again. "So how about this boy you've been seeing?"

"Eh?" Despite her best efforts, Sayaka's face grew beet red in seconds. "Th-th-there's no boy!"

"You're still a horrible liar, as always," Ms. Suzuki just smiled pleasantly. She sniffed the air. "But it seems like this boy hasn't been around for a while. He hasn't done anything to you, has he?"

"No," Sayaka said shamefacedly, but immediately seeing her mistake, added. "I mean I don't have a boyfriend! I j-just met this person, that's all!"

"Hmmm..." The woman kept her smile. "I suppose he knows better than to cross a Suzuki then, _hmmm_?" Somehow, that smile became a lot more menacing.

"Yes, mother," It was then Sayaka decided that, unless Cygnus came back as a truly horrible monster, that _he and her mother must never meet_. As much as she loved her mother, that woman never ceased to be scary.

**-X-X-**

"Hey guys, I'm Makie Sasaki! I'm just an ordinary cheery girl of 14, walking with an awesome magic teacher! But now we're in an entirely new school, and meeting strange new people! But we still gotta find Becky-sensei! Next time: 'I Don't Wanna Join a Festival of Servants!' by Makie! ...what does that title mean, anyway?"

(Oi, yes I know I'm two days late with this. My apologies and all that. Don't be afraid to drop a review/concrit~)


	4. I Don't Wanna Join a FestivalofServants!

**Nightmare?!**

**Episode 3: "I Don't Wanna Join a Festival of Servants!" by Makie**

"Yo~! Chao~!" Rei greeted lazily on the phone, slowly preparing herself for school.

"How's things coming over there? Did Negi-sensei show up there okay?" Came the voice on the other end. Rei could hear the frantic typing of keys in the background—Chao was apparently at work programming something.

"Yeah, he even helped us out today. Some weirdo's moving about in the darkness again," Rei muttered. "I don't think it's swan boy, there's not enough of him gloating or kidnapping Rokugou."

"Hmm," Chao responded.

Rei could hear someone else screeching and whimpering in the background. "That's Misora, isn't it? She not dying out there, is she? Not that I care."

"Goddammit let me gooo!" The girl heard Misora bellowed. "I swear my blood doesn't taste good!"

"Shut up, Kasuga," Rei recognized that voice too—the tiny vampire Evangeline was apparently the aggressor. "Consider yourself on loan for Chao." Rei had only seen the vampire a couple of times, but she really couldn't see why she was so threatening other than a bad attitude. She had apparently been a far more bitter and dangerous individual years ago, but thanks to a curse, now lay confined on Mahora school grounds. "By the way, Chao, you're talking to one of those Peach Moon brats, right? I'd tell them about that council that's running over there if I were you."

"Oh, oh yeah!" The young scientist chirped, as if she had remembered it on her own. "Rei, keep your eyes peeled for the Student Mage Council! Rumor has it they're joining forces with Peach Moon to observe Negi-sensei! Eva-chan says they were on the move here earlier!"

Wait. What. "Huh? Student Mage Council?" Rei raised an eyebrow. "Why are they so interested in Negi-sensei?"

"The Star Crystal incident," Chao answered gravely. There was a paused. Rei figured by the sound of that, it had to be important, and yet... Luckily, before she had to urge Chao on, the scientist explained Negi's current situation as far as she knew—how the powerful gem was stolen, how Negi has been recovering strange shards, and how Cygnus had interrupted the investigation. The girls' previous talks about fairies suddenly made sense. "Negi's being valiant, but apparently it's been making bigger waves than everybody thought."

"Yikes," Rei hissed, just above a whisper. Slightly louder, she added, "I'll tell Negi to keep an eye out then." She listened out for a bit, this time to hear Misora whimpering about "Please don't turn me into a werehog, please don't turn me into a werehog..." Rei's memories finally smacked her, and she remembered why she made the call in the first place! "Oh yeah! Did any of Negi's students come this way?"

"Six of them~" Chao answered happily. "You'll see who they are when you go to school today!" Chao apparently heard some beeping, as she stopped for a moment. "Oh dear, I bet that's them right now! Talk later! Bye!" And with that, the phone line went dead.

Rei hung up herself before putting the last of her stuff in her bag and walking out of her room.

* * *

"Goddammit Chao where's our stuff?!" Asuna bellowed on the phone. She and Nodoka, while already showered and prepared for school, had zero spare clothing. Negi of course, was just smiling nervously, taking in his residence in the State of Undress (lorded over by Governor Asuna and Mayor Nodoka) with the silent hope that he wouldn't be recognized as some sort of hostile threat. Nodoka seemed to be fairly bashful but otherwise focused on the angry Asuna.

"Geez! I'm sorry I'm sorry! I was a bit carried away with taking care of Chachamaru and the dupes!" Chao apologized profusely. Asuna grumbled a bit, but that didn't stop her from hearing more furious key presses before a final -tap- and a machine humming. Moments later two suitcases flickered into existence. "There, your clothes should be there, including a Peach Moon school outfit!"

Asuna, still holding the phone in one hand took her other hand and opened the case, which was filled with her regular clothes, a pale yellow uniform, and strangely enough, a blank card. She rummaged through her stuff. "Thanks, Chao. By the way, what's with this blank card?"

"Ah, it's just a simple thing I cooked up," Chao answered coyly. "You'll find it most useful when Negi-sensei isn't around~."

"Wow, thanks for the tip," Asuna growled sardonically.

Negi gently grabbed the phone from Asuna. "Thank you, Chao-san! Is my class doing all right?"

"They've been holding on," Chao answered wearily. "Seruhiko-sensei seems to be getting through the lessons fair enough."

Negi frowned, not really pleased with the news, but figured there was little he could do at this point. Smiling again, he then concluded, "Please don't hesitate to keep in touch! I'll talk with you later Chao-san! Bye!" And with that, he hung up the phone.

Asuna immediately snatched the phone back and put it in her pocket. "Well, we're up to speed, right?" By now she had donned the Peach Moon outfit, as had Nodoka. "Let's go! We're gonna be late!"

"Wow, you girls look cute!" Negi marveled.

Everything stopped.

"R-really?!" Nodoka smiled, cheeks red.

"I'm glad, big bro!" Chamo bellowed, popping out of nowhere as usual. "It's about time you noticed the fashion of cute ladies!"

Asuna was having none of this right now. "Oi! You'll have all night to ogle at Honya-chan in cute clothes! Right now we need to SPLIT." She scooped up Negi and bolted out the door, with Nodoka surprisingly enough close on her heels. Seeing nobody else outside, she called out, "Hurry up, we're gonna be late!"

"Asuna!" Konoka called from just outside. "We've been waiting!"

"Sorry we're late! Let's just go!" Asuna shouted, and the seven strong group sprinted towards their school destination.

Unknown to them, however, the young maid from yesterday had watched them all scurry to Peach Moon. Smiling, she said, "My, my! Isn't it time we left for school as well?"

"Perhaps it is," The man at the front desk agreed. "After all, we wouldn't be setting a good example as the Student Mage Council if we're late," Albiero Imma smiled.

* * *

"Have you heard?"

"Of course! It's amazing, isn't it?"

"It's really exciting!"

"Who would've thought that the tenth grade was getting six new students?!"

"And right on the heels of that new teacher replacing Miyamoto-sensei!" There were murmurs and whispers of excitement growing, as the newest gossip spread like wildfire.

"Aiyah... you students are way too noisy..." A voice lifted up in complaint. Of those there, she was the only one who was.. you guessed it, a teacher! As far as the teachers went, she was also fairly attractive. Short, red hair fell over her shoulders, somehow combed. Alas, this particular teacher had a nasty hangover, was practically melted onto her desk much like a slug. Such horrible role model for the students—"Enough already, you make my head hurt..." Why thanks for proving my point!

"But it's true, Igarashi-sensei," Spoke a boy, perhaps the only important male in the room, likely because he had a strong resemblance to Kurumi Momose. Easily fanning the weak teacher from his vintage point, he continued. "We're getting six new students. A whole 'temporary exchange program' cooked up by the principle, or so I heard."

"So who's going over to the other school?" Asked a young brunette, wearing a pale blue headband with a bow.

The hung over teacher sleepily checked her role. "Nobody important, obviously."

Suddenly, there was some knocking at the door.

"Sensei~" A voice rang.

"Yeah, Kashiwagi twins." She answered in boredom.

"It's not the Kashiwagi twins, it's Yuma!" One voice rang. A girl, tall and willowy, stood in defiance. She bore a blue ribbon in her long, purple hair, and her outfit was a dark pink instead of the usual yellow. "You'd think you'd learn by now."

"And for your information," A meek voice rose. "I'm Yuna Kashiwagi." She was practically a mirror image of her sister, minus the ribbon, which was red instead. Both sisters wore thigh high leggings that matched their ribbons.

"You think I can tell you apart at this salary?" The woman known as Igarashi-sensei muttered.

Yuma just shrugged this off. "Anyway, the six students are coming in here."

"_Here_?" Igarashi's attention shot up.

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Not enough room in the other classes."

"Oh boy..."

"Oi, Negi!" The door slid open, and six people walked in. Led by a girl with bell charms in her hair, they walked straight to the desk. "You think you'd know how things w—_what._" Asuna realized she wasn't staring at Negi. "Erm, sorry! I think we've got the wrong place!"

"No you don't," Igarashi noted, looking at her paper. "Sit down."

"Eh?" Asuna blinked. She looked around. Then she RAGED. "WHHAAAAT?!"

It was enough for Negi to dash in for the damage control. "Asuna-san!" Negi tried to calm the girl. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! There wasn't enough room in class 1-C to fit all of you, so I had to send you across the hall to 1-A."

"You should've told us that _earlier_," Asuna growled, moving to hoist the boy up and look threatening and evil.

Konoka, however, saw that coming and decided it wasn't justified enough. Snapping her fingers, Setsuna and Akira immediately restrained the girl by locking her arms with theirs. Try as she might, she couldn't get free despite her rage. "Hey, hey, Asuna. He tried, right? It's not like we won't see him after school."

Asuna sighed. Seeing that she was no longer a threat to Negi the other two let go. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"That's okay," Negi's heart bled forgiveness. "See you after class!" And with that, he was gone. There was a moment of silence as the six newcomers easily filed into their seats.

While Igarashi groaned from her usual hangover curse, it was Makie who broke the silence through conversation. "I think everyone's lookin' at us funny..." she murmured to Akira.

That's when the question assault kicked in.

While the unimportant people were content in just whispering amongst each other as per usual (since they weren't important enough to actually talk to the newcomers like real people), the four that talked to the teacher made their move.

The first was, in fact, the lone important boy. "Yo," He greeted calmly and lazily. "Been a while since we had any newcomers. Where'd you guys come from?" While I did point out earlier that he had a strong family resemblance to Kurumi, the Mahora visitors didn't reach that conclusion as nearly as quickly.

"Mahora," Nodoka supplied the answer. She scrutinized him, trying to place why he looked so familiar, but yet...

"Ah... wait a minute," The boy began to think. "My sister disappeared to a school like that last month..."

"Sister?" Konoka blinked. The puzzle slid into place. "Ah, you must mean Kurumi!"

"So you know my sister?" The boy asked.

"Yeah, we're friends with her!" Konoka smiled cheerily. "So you're a brother, then?"

"Shu Momose," The boy introduced himself. Likewise, the cast of 3-A introduced themselves. The brunette peered back at the cast, happily introducing herself as Yuzuko Kurusu. The Kashiwagi twins still insisted on differentiating between each other, despite nobody else's concern.

"Oi~, can we keep it down over there?" The teacher muttered. "My head's still ringing..."

"And here I'd thought I'd fail even faster at school, so this is a relief!" Asuna laughed. "So this class is easy, right?" As an award for her assumption, a gold pan crashed onto Asuna's head, followed by her sailing through a trapdoor into a vat of water. Upon seeing water, Akira immediately shed her clothes, revealing a swimsuit, and jumped right in after her. Completely ignoring everyone's shock, Akira swam happily. Makie just laughed it off, while Konoka and Setsuna immediately dashed to Asuna's aid.

"Don't take me for a fool," Igarashi leered through her weakness.

And with that, class began. However, silently in the back, a male youth gazed on at the newcomers, much more relaxed now that he was no longer on the spot. One Connor Gavet noted, with quite a bit of amusement, how much closer the newcomers were to each other than the rest of the class.

* * *

Soon enough, classes ended.

"Hey hey, Yuna-chan!" The daring Kashiwagi twin asked. Subtly shifting her gaze towards Nodoka, she continued to speak. "What's the fashion scouter say about her moe level?"

"It's..." The meek Kashiwagi began. But, even using her invisible-to-nonexistent fashion scouter, she was completely amazed at the results. "... it's immeasurable! I haven't seen potential like this in ages, Yuma-chan!"

"Over nine thousand?! No wait, nine thousand is _puny_ compared to this!" Yuma's eyes shined with glee. "We must try some fashions on her!"

"Shouldn't we ask for permission first?" Yuna asked weakly as her sister approached the shy librarian.

"Aww, she'll thank us later, even if she doesn't want to!" Yuma waved off this worry. Easily approaching Nodoka, the girl grinned. She casually greeted. "Hey there, newcomer."

"Yes?" Nodoka responded innocently.

Yuma nearly shook with glee and had to force herself still. "You pull off the shy, library girl look extremely well, yes? We, my sister and I, would love to help you bring out that look even better!"

"Hmm? R-really?" Nodoka wasn't sure about this and looked amongst her friends. They too, exchanged looks, though it was only Asuna that shared any real concern. "Maybe..."

In the end, it was Konoka who answered for her. "Take one for the team, Honya-chan!"

"Eh!?" Nodoka paled.

"Yay!" The twins cheered, and, like bandits, made off with the girl in tow ("EEEEEP!").

At the same time that the twins were making their grand escape, Negi too, was leaving class, along with the notable girls of 1-C. Negi was talking animatedly to Kurumi. "Hmm... I haven't been to the teacher's lounge yet, but I think I'll have time tomorrow." Noticing the Kashiwagi twins dash off with a struggling Nodoka in tow, Negi stared in confusion for a moment.

"What's got the Kashiwagi twins so excited?" Rei asked, popping out besides her friends.

"Looks like they're kidnapping Nodoka-san for some sort of nefarious scheme," Ichijou observed.

"WHAT?!" Whoops, wrong choice of words there, Ichijou. That's all it took for Negi to see a theoretical red. "Give back Nodoka-san, kidnappers!" Negi shouted, dashing after them despite pleas for him to stop, it was all a misunderstanding, they only want to force-dress Nodoka in cute clothing, how is that bad, et cetera et cetera...

Seeing her teacher suddenly excited, Makie sprung into action as well. "Wait for me, Negi-kun!" She took a literal long jump over the heads of the rather impressed girls, closing the gap between herself and Negi with surprising speed.

With them gone, Rei sighed at Ichijou's usual antics. "Geez, going crazy and adding misunderstandings as per usual..."

"Negi-kun has his hands full, doesn't he?" Konoka added.

"I suppose so," Setsuna added on to Konoka's add on.

"Oi, shouldn't somebody tail him?" Asuna added.

"Makie-san's doing that, right?" Akira answered.

"I mean somebody _else,_" Asuna muttered. "No offense to Makie, but she hasn't even fought seriously yet. And considering all the weirdness crawling around this school we can't be too careful. So I guess I'll tail him, just in case."

"Me too, me too!" Konoka added.

"You have fun with that," Miyako muttered, not wanting to get involved with this usual madness. "But we'll keep our eyes peeled."

* * *

Running the fastest he could without magic enhancement, Negi tore through the hallways. This was bad—he quickly lost track of the twins, and with that no means of finding Nodoka without magic. Worse yet, he had yet to fully understand the layout of the school, so quickly navigating would be a pain. There were still magic oblivious students milling about, so wandering about here freely.

"No running in the hallways~!" One of them shouted in a rather jovial tone. Negi briefly noted his white hair and wide grin. Negi however, only slowed down his chase slightly.

"Negi-kun!" Makie cried, finally catching up to him via swinging towards by catching her ribbon to a water sprinkler and swinging over to the boy.

This was a very bad move, as her weight, despite how light she was, was enough to cause the immediate ones nearby to activate, allowing the sprinklers to shower on top of everything.

...including the white-haired boy, who didn't dig it all that much. "AAAIIIEE! GACK! WATER!" He retreated into the relative safety of the classroom, only leaving Negi and Makie to ponder within the State of Confusion.

"Errm... very strange indeed," Negi noted, as Ichijou suddenly bolted from out of nowhere and dashed into that same classroom. The two of them wisely decided to ignore the increasing weirdness and violent sounds coming from the room before their brains broke. They quietly left the classroom and headed further downstairs towards the extracurricular rooms.

* * *

It was another fifteen minutes before Negi finally found a lead. Oh, but this lead was bad news!

For you see, it was another boss door, like the one he saw yesterday.

"Negi-kun, that door looks weird..." Makie's usual energy ebbed slightly.

"This isn't good at all..." Negi whispered. "If that kind of door is here, that means darkness is here, too... Nodoka-san could be in danger!"

"Eh?!" Makie held her hands together. "Would that mean the twins planned this? From what I saw of them today, they wouldn't do something like this?"

"I don't think so either, they probably walked into a trap..." Negi grabbed his staff tightly. Boldly, he approached the door, and of course, it rose open, inviting in the two of them with foreboding mist. "Nodoka-san! Crazy twins I met today! Please hang on!" He walked in, Makie tailing behind him.

There was darkness here, and no Nodoka.

The suspicious boss door slammed down behind Negi, leaving just him and Makie to face this dark place alone. The closet seemed... almost too spacious. Were the closets around here in Peach Moon this big? And there was this vague feeling of darkness just hanging in the air as well. So... where was Nodoka?

Despite this, though, it felt somewhat nostalgic. Didn't his childhood friend Anya boast about finding a closet this big somewhere?

"Negi-kun... I'm scared," Makie whispered, holding his hand tight.

"Don't worry, Makie-san," Negi responded, reassuring. "Stand by me."

"Okay..." They stepped forward a bit, but Makie stopped, her foot having bumped into something. She looked down and shrieked loudly.

The shriek caused Negi to jump back in shock as well. "What is it, Makie-san?!" Negi asked urgently. The gymnast could only point a quivering finger downward. Negi slowly followed her finger... and his eyes widened.

Down at his feet were the long-haired twins he saw earlier, unmoving.

"What...?!" Negi immediately leaned forward to check for a pulse. He got a dark shock instead. "Gaah!" He fell backwards, his hand sizzling from the attack.

"Negi-kun!" Makie worriedly rushed to his side.

"I'm okay..." The child teacher hissed.

"**Shame, Negi Springfield, that you weren't here earlier.**" A voice called through the darkness. "**For an ordinary person, she fought pretty hard to escape the darkness... but in the end, she still lost. She even managed to keep your student out of my sight**." Negi looked further in, seeing a vague shape in the darkness, yellow eyes gazing at him. The voice seemed to radiate from that strange being. "**But since you're here, you might as well witness my festival of servants. Perhaps you've already seen one.**"

"Who are you?" Makie shivered.

"Are you connected to Cygnus?! What do you want with me?!" Negi shouted back desperately.

"**Your loneliness. Your madness. That cursed swan... I'll do him one better... as the **_**real**_** darkness.**"

Makie's fear overwhelmed by righteous anger, she stepped forward. "L-leave Negi-kun and the others alone! Stop this!"

"**You have no hope, just like the book bearing girl. Then perhaps she will guide you to the underworld**." There was a wicked snickering from that vague blackness.

"She...?" Makie blinked in confusion. "But there's two people here!"

"**Should two people, twins as close as they are, drown in the darkness together, they might as well not be two separate people at all...**" The darkness flared, and a massive rune appeared under the twins. Something like a corrupted heartbeat began to sound, jerking their bodies to that rhythm. Negi and Makie stared in horror as the two girls began to slowly rise, floating... and merging.

Darkness consumed them.

When all was said and done, the twisted darkness merely muttered, "**Dream here, Negi Springfield, for if you live, we will surely meet again.**" The vague darkness disappeared, leaving only Negi, Makie, and this... creature standing before them.

She was... a strange, if creepily beautiful creature. While Yuma and Yuna's heads remained intact, their bodies were now a amalgamation of two dark-red demons, joined together from the side of the chest down. Clawed hands moved freely as they... she... stared down her challengers.

They... no, she, let out a unified roar.

Negi and Makie were now free to commence panicking.

While student and teacher were busy running around like headless chickens, the stretchy left hand of the creature shot towards Makie. Negi got his brain back and tackled Makie out of harm's way, smoothly righting himself and dodging back into a clothes rack. As the two of them stopped to catch their breath, Makie gibbered. "W-w-what are we gonna do?!"

"Makie-san, please stay calm!" Negi whispered.

Negi suddenly felt a hand touch him. Upon seeing Makie's hands clasped in front of her, he jumped up in panic, having to strain to keep from pissing his pants.

"Negi-sensei..." A soft voice called out.

Negi turned to his left to see Nodoka, buried underneath a pile of clothes but otherwise okay. "N-Nodoka-san! You're alright!" History seems to repeat itself in the oddest of times...

"Yay Honya-chan!" Makie agreed.

Nodoka frowned as she pulled herself out of the pile. "I couldn't save them... All I could do was hide here. But at least you're finally here! Please save them from the darkness!"

Negi gripped his staff, boosting his determination points to MAXIMUM. "I will... but you two, can you lend me your power?"

As if she finally remembered, Makie beamed. "Oh yeah! I'm Negi-kun's partner! Of course I'll help!" Nodoka, however, just nodded.

Negi held out his staff. "Partners: Nodoka Miyazaki, Makie Sasaki, show me the power within you!" The girls felt those pin pricks to their souls as Negi withdrew two cards from the usual orb he summoned. "Contract... activate!"

The light died down. Nodoka had her selection of high level books, proving she had her armor card. Makie had disappeared in a matter of seconds, as the nightmarish creature in the room finally found them.

"Eh? Makie-san?" Negi blinked, confused. The creature just roared again and tried to slam Negi once more with its stretchy arms. "WWAAAH!" He dived out of harm's way, mounting his staff and soaring about in a tight circle in order to evade the wild arms.

"Negi-kun! I'm right here!" The gymnast shouted from above.

The child mage looked up to see Makie sail downwards between the two. Bearing a shining pink gymnast outfit and her telltale ribbon, she appeared far more regal than normal for Baka Pink—perhaps this was her armor card. Makie extended both legs and twirled around, smashing both heads. "Take that!" The girl yelled.

The heads didn't like this. Two claws easily shot towards Makie, knocking her off of her perch. However, upon crashing into the ground, Makie easily recovered, dodging the follow-up attack. The crazy hands swirled around in an attempt to clip the girl, but she hand-sprinted out of harm's way.

"Negi-sensei! To your left!" Nodoka cried out.

Sure enough, to his left, a swinging arm sailed towards him. Negi flipped to the underside of his staff, narrowly avoiding a painful collision with Stretch Armstrong Doom Edition. Negi countered by hissing his unlock spell before firing a blast of light arrows. She shrieked from the pain... for a few moments. It then stopped for a moment, breathing in heavily before recovering from the attack completely. Of course, it HAS to be a boss fight, can't be that easy, right?

"Negi-sensei!" Nodoka shouted. "That thing is called a Meltigemini, a monster formed from two fused souls! It coordinates everything between them, so attacking just one of them won't work!" Nodoka felt mighty proud introducing the monster of the week.

"Then that means we have to hit both sides at the same time..." Negi thought out loud. "Just like Makie-san did earlier!" Determination renewed, Negi hopped on his staff again, and shot towards the monster.

Both of Meltigemini's faces sneered. Our the uh-oh.

Meltigemini clapped her hands together with a fierce -BANG- before flinging them upwards. Several runes appeared, and nasty bursts of poisonous liquid erupted from the ground. One knocked Negi clean off his staff, causing him to sail and crash into the floor.

Makie, too, was hit, and much more painfully at that. She shrieked as the poison stung her nerves.

"Makie-san!" Nodoka cried, and began to run towards her, only to trip and crash into another pile of clothes.

"Makie-san... Nodoka-san..." Negi groaned, his body barely responding to him through sheer anger. He leered upwards at the cursed creature, formed by two unwitting souls, currently ogling at Nodoka in a gothic-lolita costume— HEY WAIT A MINUTE.

It seemed that Nodoka had somehow emerged from yet another haphazard pile of clothes in a completely different outfit, and apparently looked so cute that even the twins locked inside the monster noticed! Negi could have sworn that one of them shouted "CORRECT!" upon seeing it...

...wait, that means their old personalities are showing through, meaning the monster's grip on them was weakening! Smiling softly, he stealthily slid out of sight, issuing a mental apology to the library girl. There was one last trick he had to try.

Meanwhile, Nodoka shivered. Why did the random changing clothes trick kick in NOW of all times?! Now she was in this embarrassing outfit in front of Negi-sensei and twins forced into a monster! Worse yet, this monster found it amusing to keep dipping her into the pile of clothes and continuously change her outfit. Now she was in a nurse's outfit! Now a school girl! Japanese maid! Oh please, just make it stop! The torture (and by torture we mean incomplete fanservice) is too great!

Luckily, now was the time that Negi stopped the party. "I'll free you from your hatred..." Meltigemini saw Negi right behind her, and curled her arms to defend herself from Negi's magic. "Tel ma... AMORIS!"

So it was a shock when, instead of any regular magic, Negi grabbed the twins' heads and slammed them together.

Meltigemini was in a world of pain, writhing madly. Slowly, the monster began to lose form, darkness evaporating. Negi moved upwards to finish the job. "**Weighted light, drag out the darkness. Answer my plea and return these souls to their normal form!**" He shot a hand up, and a massive rune appeared under the monster. "TEL MA... AMORIS!"

Meltigemini lost its grip on existing in this world. The twins fell apart, themselves once more. The swirling darkness that formed the nightmare creature didn't stand a chance as Negi sliced it in half with a burst of light. Finally, all was still.

Negi looked worriedly in Makie's direction, seeing the girl on the floor and shivering. However, just like last time, a swirl of orange formed an orb, dropping on Makie's weak form. As her form stopped shivering, the door opened. "Makie-san?" Negi ventured.

"I'm okay," she said. "That was... nasty." She shivered again. "I don't think I'm cut out for direct fights, Negi-kun."

"I understand..." Negi said. "If you're too scared to—"

"I will continue to fight alongside Negi-kun!" She pumped a fist, shedding tears of AWESOME DETERMINATION. "I won't be stopped by a little bad luck!"

Her bravado infectious, Negi began to shed tears of determination as well. "Makie-san, you're so brave..."

"Negi!" As if on cue, Asuna and Konoka burst in, surrounding the boy. Their faces had "concern" scribbled all over them. Asuna continued. "Are you all right? Is everyone all right?!"

"We're fine now," Negi said, smiling again. He looked over to the sleeping twins. "I managed to return them to normal."

"That's good, Negi-kun!" Konoka said. "I knew something was up, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Sorry we couldn't get here in time."

"Peach Moon's a pretty strange place," Asuna added. "Man, I think the darkness is using the weirdness factor of this school to like, totally maximize itself. By the way..." She turned to Nodoka. "Why in the hell are you dressed like a -censored-?!"

"Believe me," Nodoka quailed. "it wasn't by choice!"

"Doesn't matter, since Nodoka is still moe!" Konoka observed happily. The shy library girl grew three times redder that day. "Not as moe as Secchan, but you get my point, yes?"

"Why do I get the feeling that somebody screwed with Nodoka's moe stat?" Asuna muttered to herself.

Meanwhile, the Kashiwagi twins Yuuma and Yuuna slept soundly, no longer contained by nightmares, but dreams of fashion and daring adventure. Negi Springfield and his entourage are pretty awesome after all.

* * *

Night fell.

In the darkness, a swan moved.

The moon full, Cygnus rose from the depths of the darkness, surveying the land around him. Taking a moment, he felt the air and aura around him. Somehow, in this strange land before him, everything felt truly strange. Unlike Mahora, which had powerful but even auras with easily determinable sources, this place... power was all over the place. Familiar auras, too, such as Negi, the light-bearing Konoe, and that inferior darkness—

WHOA HOLD IT! Cygnus's body reacted on instinct as a burst of Gravity magic appeared from above. He drifted out of harm's way and whirled backwards, trying to see his attacker.

Just his _luck_. "Look at me, crowing that you wouldn't catch me, and not even five seconds after I touch down, you find me."

"While I do like to think that I'm competent, it's not too hard to find someone who's aura is the equivalent of a neon sign that says 'Look at me, I'm EEEEEEEVIL!'" The teenager known as Albiero Imma calmly responded, his dangerously empty smile on his face as usual. "But then again, all the rumors about you don't seem to be true... for someone reportedly as crazy as yourself, you are rather calm tonight."

"What can I say?" Cygnus shrugged in a fake show of arrogance. "Throwing away my sanity isn't easy or even useful during the down time. But of course," He dropped to a sneer. "If any excitement picks up, I'm always ready for a party."

"So am I, so am I!" Al agreed jovially, taking up a fighting stance. "After all, youth is the time of endless parties and unwise experiments with sexual orientation!"

"Buuuut I don't feel like fighting right now," Cygnus suddenly shifted moods and batted away what little growing animosity there was. "I'm looking for something, as what always happens with me."

"They say one who is always looking but never finds has no purpose in life," Al shut his book. "However, some say the act of looking is enough."

"You learn stuff when you look! That's pretty much the only thing I remember from being a human, to be honest with you."

"But of course, you still need to have at least an aim of what you're looking for."

"True, that."

"So anything in particular you're looking for? Depending on your answer I might not have to blow you up to smithereens, stab a sword to your forehead or slay you with a holy whip."

"Firstly, I want to tear that inferior darkness a new one."

"Easier said than done, especially since it runs away if it sees you. It seems quite hellbent on attacking Negi though. Not that it can actually beat him as long as he stays on his toes. If you keep interfering, you will make it difficult on the mages to solve a certain incident, and they will make it difficult for you to wander here freely."

"You mean the one with that Star Crystal?"

"Yes."

"Damn. So I can't bother Negi OR find Rokugou! This is agony!"

"That's good news, I suppose."

"_Damn you_. ...Luckily I have a workaround for that."

"What is that?"

"You think I'd tell you? Right now? I may be a self-proclaimed super-villain, but I'm not THAT stupid. I know my tropes!"

"Like Noble Demon? It kinda fits you."

"What's that?"

"The sound of your failure. You just said you know your tropes. You just lost the game."

"Damn you!"

"So... Secondly?"

"Huh?"

"You said firstly, earlier."

"Oh right. Secondly: Divine Bloodlines."

"Great song, that is."

"_What_. No _seriously_."

"In all seriousness, the Divine Bloodlines are the only people capable of wiping out anyone ageless and/or immortal, like yourself."

"As awesome as I am, there are a lot more things than some so-called 'holy bloodlines' that can wipe me out. I'm not exactly Dark Lord material yet, but I'm working on it!"

"For a Dark Lord candidate you're awful amiable. Maybe you should try out for Dark Hero?"

"...I'll think about that one."

"That's all I'll say for now. Guide you in the right direction and all that." Albiero concluded. "Do take care. If you're still itching for a fight or don't like the situation before you, feel free to take it up with one of the Student Mage Council members. Thank you, and good luck shedding your villainy~!" And by the time Cygnus realized he had been insulted, the Student Mage Council leader had already vanished in a swirl of light.

Somewhere, Cygnus heard the sound of alien laughter.

* * *

In seconds, the swan demon was back on the ship, snarling and attempting to crush one of the creatures that dare mock him with one hand. "Alien abuse! ALIEN ABUSE!" The victim cried. But the captain was too busy shivering in a corner to care.

Windia merely stared in curiosity, not impressed by Cygnus's show of angry tyranny. "Why'd you come back so quickly?"

"It's too delicate for the likes of me, just yet." Cygnus grumbled, chucking the hapless alien into a wall. The other aliens shrugged and went on with their business since the swan no longer had any RAGE to spend on them. "As in, 'not the right time to stir up trouble.' But..." He gazed back at Windia. "I've got a job for you, now."

Windia stood up, alert.

"And I promise it'll be fun..."

**-X-X-X-**

"...what do you _mean_ there's no omake?!" Evangeline complained. "It's the only place I even get to even think about being important!"

"The narrator's struggling to conclude this chapter, so he kinda ran out of time," Chao shrugged. When Eva responded by jumping on top of her and biting on her forehead, Chao winced. "Please don't make me bleed to death. It gets more difficult to look after Chachamaru..."

"But... aren't we technically having an omake right now?" Misora pointed out, plastered on the floor and weak from having her blood taken.

"That's true," Evangeline stopped harassing Chao, although she remained on top of the girl in a parasitic bear hug. "Still, why'd they even say something?!"

"I don't know. Hey, how's the hi-def epic scale power level monitor coming?" Chao called out to the back.

Satomi Hakase popped out from a pile of electronic mess, giving a thumbs up. "Good! Taking a bit longer than I thought, though!"

"Ugh, I have no idea what you're up to or if it's even relevant to the plot," Eva muttered. "Anyway, next time! 'A Harmony of Dissonance is quite Disconcerting!' by those goddamn twins!"

"The Narutakis?"

"No! The Kashiwagi twins! Anyway, you better stick around, and drop some concrit, too! Or else I'll just freeze you with all the english beef!"

Chao promptly dumped Eva onto the floor, who crashed into a painful heap. "Let's not threaten our audience, okay?" Eva only grumbled in response.

**-X-X-**

(Hi guys! Finally here despite hitting a brick wall! Gotta warn you though, I'm suffering massive projects and papers due this week, so I won't be bothering with too much else this week, so don't expect an update from me for another week and a half. Stay tuned, everybody!)


	5. A Harmony of Dissonance

**Nightmare?!**

**Episode 4: "A Harmony of Dissonance is Quite Disconcerting..." by Yuma and Yuna**

"Hey, Yuna-chan."

"Yeah?"

The Kashiwagi sisters, busy dressing and gazing into the mirror, were talking idly. Ever since yesterday, with that strange tiny teacher waking them from a strange nightmare, things haven't been adding up.

"I think something's up with our newcomers." Yuma mused.

"Why's that?" Yuma asked.

"I can't narrow it down to just one thing, ya know. It could be just the fact that those six moved in together, but they seem... very close. Like, childhood friends close. And their constant hovering over our newest tiny teacher. Maybe they have a history together?" Yuma helped fixed the red bow in her sister's hair.

"We shouldn't leap to conclusions, you know..." Yuna said softly.

"I know, right? That's why we should call Watanuki-san!" Yuma said happily. "She can pull up the leads on our mystery students!"

"Hmm... but I think Watanuki-san might interfere and use whatever she learns for her own ends... maybe we should investigate this ourselves..."

"Oh ho, Yuna-chan! I like the way you think! Plus we can learn the secret of how Miyazaki is so moe!"

"Yes, yes!" Yuna nodded vigorously. However, a thought occurred to her. She frowned again. "We don't know the first thing about sneaking around, Yuma-chan..."

"Hmm... so it might be a good idea to ask Watanuki after all..." Yuma pondered out out. "But we can let that stop us... C'mon, let's get to school already." The sisters, adding some last touches to their wardrobe, merrily dashed out of their room and into the world.

* * *

"So, you're Negi Spriiingfield, yes?" A voice slurred.

Negi found himself looking at an aged man. A really aged man, in fact. His face reminded him heavily of Dean Konoemon, with eyebrows so thick they shaded his eyes. Unlike the dean, though, his head was round and completely bald. He wore a crisp shirt and brown pants. "So you're the boy who stands in Miyamoto's place. Must say you look far shinier and naïve than she."

"Umm... okay," Negi gave an embarrassed smile, not sure how to react.

"Don't mind him, he's just an Old Geezer," A second man strolled in, wearing a blue and white jump suit that obviously screamed "P.E TEACHER!" The man gave the boy a friendly smile. "Just call me Saotome." While the old man's gaze was critical, this new man observed Negi with genuine curiosity. "Can't say I was expecting another tiny teacher considering how much the PTA cried about it when Becky was here, but you look wise enough."

"Thank you," Negi decided to simply roll with that as a compliment.

"How's 1-C treating you, anyway?" The amiable Saotome asked. "They're a pretty rowdy bunch."

"Not bad at all!" Negi answered, slightly leaping to their defense. "I know several of them from when they visited my school, plus I'm used to rowdy."

"You haven't been here very long, have you?" The Old Geezer returned, still scrutinizing Negi. "No matter, perhaps! The sooner you succumb to classes' madness, the better. Then you can fully say that you belong here!" Despite his jeering, the old man's tone was surprisingly friendly. "After all, it took Becky a while to warm up to the students, too!"

"Oi, oi! Stop freaking him out," Saotome griped back.

"I'm okay!" Negi laughed. "Really!" However, his smile dropped just as quickly. "I'm worried about Becky, though."

"That's why you're here, right?" A voice drunkenly lifted from the multiple desks lined up in the teacher's lounge. Negi turned to see the usually drained Igarashi. While looking better than yesterday, she she still did not bear a positive attitude students could look up to. "Trying to find out all the weirdness in our school and all that. Don't worry too much. Becky will show up on her own." She looked up at the boy, a faint smile on her lips. "I get that feeling."

"Our school always has this aura of weeeeirdness," The Old Geezer's eye shone ominously. "To challenge it would likely spell your doom. Hee hee hee hee hee hee!" The man cackled like a master lecher.

"Weirdness or no," Negi countered, his face serious, "I will not rest until this mystery is solved!"

"Bold words, Springfield-kun," The old man smiled. "We'll see how well you live up to them in the coming weeks."

* * *

"Oi, Watanuki-san! That pose is ridiculously overplayed and doesn't net you any cool points at all," Yuma quickly and viciously pointed out to the hazel-haired girl sitting across from them.

This vast and technological room in the basement had TV monitors covering every square inch of three of the walls of the room, each showing off a different area of Peach Moon. The rest of the room was occupied only by a single, large desk with a computer on top. The lone person sitting at the middle had in fact, propped her head on top of her folded hands, fake glasses obscuring her eyes—a perfect representation of a certain Mr. Ikar—"I'm doing this because it's _expected_, not because it's _cool_. You girls do know what you're up against, don't you?"

"Huh?" Both of them tilted their heads.

"You obviously come seeking information on the one known as Negi Springfield, correct?" Hibiki Watanuki shed her fake glasses and tossed them aside, letting them crash into some random animal in the room.

The sisters exchanged looks. Looking back towards Watanuki's green eyes, they nodded.

"Forget about it," Watanuki waved them off. "He's pretty interesting, and it's not like he's unknown, but he's got secrets so heavily guarded it's like opening Pandora's Box. I've actually been threatened by people for trying to expose the boy."

"Really?" The girls held their hands together. However, Yuma stood firm. "Even so, we must know! Just yesterday, we had a strange nightmare after we tried to model that Miyazaki girl. And all the weirdness around Miyamoto-sensei's disappearance, I think they know something about it."

"Plus that boy rescued us... from something," Yuna spoke shyly. "I truly believe it merits some sort of investigation."

"But in that case, I can't tell you anything you don't already know about _him_," Watanuki answered. "He's here to hold Becky's position until she returns. He's likely interested in finding out what happened to her, but other than that... I'd turn my curiosity to the six girls that came afterwards if I were you. They came from his school ya know!"

The twins peered closer, now that Watanuki had their interest.

She dug around her desk for a bit before pulling out a few folders. She tossed them towards the opposite end of her desk. The twins looked closely to find that she had procured files on the six newcomers that also attended Negi's school. Yuma grabbed one and began to leaf through it. "From what we've seen of them, all six are pretty close. Like 1-C close."

"That's just a part of it!" Watanuki grinned. "These guys are rumored to have some strange and awesome powers."

"Strange..." Yuma began.

"...and awesome..." Yuna added.

"Powers?" The twins concluded.

"Yeah!" Watanuki crowed. "Asuna Kagurazaka... she has frightening strength, don't you know! Rumor has it she's taken down vampires with a _boat_!"

"A boat?!" Yuna almost reeled back, completely missing the vampire part.

"Konoka Konoe," Yuma had already moved on to another folder. "She's that ditzy girl who sounds creepily similar to Ichijou, right?"

"Yes."

"She's the heiress to the Konoe estate, which means she's _loaded_," Watanuki grinned. "Like, _yakuza loaded_. And that girl next to her, Sakurazaki, is her personal bodyguard. The two are _real close_, if you know what I mean."

Yuma and Yuna exchanged wry looks. Yet another thing to take advantage of...

"Your so called moe queen, Nodoka Miyazaki... has access to one of the biggest libraries in the nation. She runs around the place fairly easily and has a shy personality... that might be why she's so... moe. Makie Sasaki is a master gymnast, with her intelligence as nimble as a truck. Last but not least, Akira Ookouchi is a woman bestowed with an obsession with water." The twins recalled Akira's childish glee at finding Igarashi-sensei's trap pool and freely swimming within it. "You're messing with superhumans, you know. Curiosity kills the cat(s)!"

"But satisfaction brings it back," Yuma winked. Watanuki shrank. There was no stopping these two, she saw it in their eyes. "Thanks, but we'll do our own from here. C'mon, Yuna-chan." Grabbing and guiding her sister out, the twins disappeared.

The girl sighed. "Good luck, you two. You'll need it."

"Can't deter them at all, can ya?" A deep voice nearly shocked Watanuki out of her serious stupor and nearly made her piss her pants. Wearily, she turned to her left to see a massive, muscle-bound man with a shock of blond hair. Of course, this was one of the same people who warned her of Negi Springfield. "Guess I can't blame _you_ then."

"Oi, Rakan-san! Don't freak me out like that!" She snapped, fear shaking her voice a bit.

Jack Rakan laughed. "Being able to sneak by people is too fun! Anyway, I'll just keep my eyes on those two. You just make sure you don't investigate anything more than you need to, all right? We still have... _information_ on the noodle incident."

Watanuki swallowed hard. "I... I had first dibs on that story and you know it!"

"Well... if you don't want anyone else breaking that news before you do, just keep to the background for now!" And with that, Jack disappeared as silently as he arrived. How someone with so much MANLINESS managed to pull this off was still a mystery.

* * *

"So umm... Negi-kun?" Himeko ventured.

"Yes?" The teacher responded oblivious to the awkward atmosphere.

"So when defending myself from the accountants with the sabers, do you mean light sabers? Or _dark_ sabers?" At this point, her fool's hair danced about merrily. Memories of a swan that crowed of darkness flew about in that (mostly) empty head of hers.

"Huh?"

"You know the dark sabers are wielded by crabs and swans, and crabs are too delicious to be countered with machine guns!" Himeko ceased making sense at this point.

"Negi-sensei, just ignore her and get back to the lesson," Rei muttered, smacking the girl.

"Are all of the subjects I'm supposed to teach here so... strange?" Negi scratched himself absentmindedly.

"No," Miyako nearly snarled, trying to keep her frustration off the tiny teacher. "But the natural weird zone of this school has us learn... unusual subjects from time to time."

"I... see."

With that, class rolled on. Negi continued on with the finer merits of defending oneself from accountants with sabers, and somehow, the class listened. That was, until something else happened. Or... someone.

"Fu fu fu fu..." A sinister voice rung through the classroom.

"Erm, Negi-sensei," A girl in the back meekly spoke. "There is a suspicious person occupying the seat next to me..."

All eyes turned to the mysterious visitor, decked in a white tuxedo, shiny top hat and vaguely hidden pink hair. "Afternoon tea with a green wind, hailing from a foggy country. Love and bravery's ambassador of friendship!" Random black rose petals sailed in from an open window. "They call me the Black Rose Baron!"

"Who is this weirdo?!" Miyako complained.

"It's an intrusion of the year!" Rokugou added.

"Black Rose Baron?!" Negi reeled back. Those feelings again. A longing. This person could still be— "Why are you here?"

The Baron stood stock still, as if the person was old-school Micheal Jackson about to do an opening number. Suddenly, the dapper Baron burst into... narration. "This is Classy Songs with the Black Rose Baron. This is the part of the story where the Black Rose Baron comes out and sings... a classy song." The dapper Baron gave a wink, and suddenly Rei felt defiled and violated. Negi, on the other hand, was simply at a loss for words.

The Black Rose Baron continued. "Today the Black Rose Baron attends Negi Springfield's impromptu switch to class 1-C in another school, and thusly wants to know how this class differs from all of his partners back at home. A song of different classes, thusly, a classy song." And with that, the Black Rose Baron burst into perfect opera.

Miyako couldn't take it anymore. She slammed her hands on her desk before pointing furiously at the masked marauder. "I HATE YOU!"

Negi was in tears.

Rokugou was also in tears—for a completely different reason. "I'm moved! This is the opera of the year!"

"I think he got the lyrics wrong," Ichijou pointed out.

"I don't think that quite fits..." Kurumi muttered silently.

"Negi, what's going on in here?" Asuna, Konoka and Setsuna peeked their heads in. "It's gettin' loud, we can hear—DAH!" The girl's shock allowed her hair to form an exclamation mark just to show her surprise. "It's that crazy creep again!"

"Ah, glad to see your friends are still doing well," The Baron abruptly stopped the serenade and tipped his hat towards Asuna. "I will see you soon, then!"

"Why you little...!" Asuna began.

"But but but what about the lesson?" Negi mewled pathetically.

It didn't matter, because the bell had rung. In seconds the unimportant students had evacuated the classroom as if it were a sale season, conveniently not even caring about the random intrusion in their class. By the time Asuna and the others could scramble over to where the Baron was, though, the mysterious person had disappeared out the window.

"Geez, he's gone again..." Asuna muttered.

"I take it you've seen him before?" Rei asked.

"That person..." Negi answered, somewhat morose. "That person could have a connection to my father. Or even _be_ my father. I don't know..." For the first time in a long time, he observed his wrist, and on it, a shiny silver band with a blue symbol. It was something he wore as a reminder for his father... but as of right now, he couldn't remember who gave it to him...

"Negi-sensei," A voice sliced through his melancholy. Negi turned to see Rei giving a gentle but determined smile. "That crazy Baron couldn't have gone far. How about we split up and look for him?"

"I'll second that!" Asuna interjected her agreement.

Negi smiled at his students. They were always there for him, after all.

* * *

"It's a juice machine!" Makie cheered. "Finally, I can have something good~!"

Akira just smiled. After all, the life here, despite being away from most of her friends, wasn't that different. As she calmly followed Makie to the machine, she noticed something slightly peculiar.

The door on the soda machine was ajar!

Makie was about to put in her first coin when she too noticed that the door was ajar. Before Makie could do anything, though, it swung open. The girl flinched slightly as the machine opened wide, revealing nothing but...

...a single cat, holding a few cans. Its beady eyes regarded Makie. Holding up a can, it gave an offering. "It's room temperature-ny—"

"MOTHER!" Makie silenced the world with her outcry.

The cat (and Akira) only stared with wide eyes.

Somewhere else in the universe, Motsu was suddenly overcome with feelings of unexplainable rage, and with his hand curled in the air, he bellowed, "DAMINATE YOU, CAT! IN A GOOD WAY!" This earned him a can of whoopass from the nearby Shichimi which quickly quieted him.

The cat was stunned as Makie wrapped her arms around it in a fierce hug. "It's been so long~!"

"The tables have turned, nya!" The cat in the soda can machine cried. You got that right.

* * *

Leading her small group, Konoka headed outside to the nearby woods. Somehow, within these forested walls, there was an unsettling feeling. "Aw, I don't see the Baron out here..."

"It's unlikely," Setsuna noted. "The Baron's higher than we are on the magic scale."

"Geez, but did he REALLY have to waltz into Negi's class like that?" Asuna grumbled. "I'll never be able to take opera seriously ever again!"

"Don't let Rokugou hear you say that." Setsuna began. However, she felt something further up ahead.

Evil intent.

"Secchan?" Konoka blinked as the half demon darted forward ahead of them. Try as she might, she couldn't catch her guardian's speed. The numerous trees didn't help matters much at all. Finally, however, she spotted Setsuna nearby a flat patch of land, an almost circular clearing standing out. She was crouched in a fighting stance. Running up to Setsuna, the girl asked, "What is it?"

"Darkness!" Setsuna pointed out the batch of egg-like shapes almost hiding in the grass.

"Where's Negi?!" Asuna exclaimed as well, looking around in panic.

"No clue..." Konoka answered, a clueless smile on her face. "But I do know I can probably handle this!"

"Ojou-sama?!" Setsuna's eyes widened slightly.

"Have faith in me, Secchan," Konoka declared gently. From her sleeve she pulled a beginner's wand, a small thing with a moon shape attached to the end. "Hmm... what was that spell Negi-kun taught me...?" Asuna and Setsuna watched her with both awe and embarrassment as she nonchalantly tried to think of a spell in the middle of an urgent situation. "Aha!" She suddenly said. What wound up shocking them wasn't this sudden outburst, but the sudden serious face and stance that followed.

"Animadverto lucis..." Konoka aimed her wand at the darkness, her face complete Serious Business (tm). "**The shadow of noon turns to the sun, the darkness of night turns to the moon...**" She let her powers grow stronger. "**Such darkness dissolves into the light. Nature! Send it to the other end of perverseness!** Sataaa andagi!" A small flash of light seared through the dark eggs, and they dissipated into dust. Konoka could help but shyly bow to the sound of thoroughly impressed clapping. However, she sighed sadly. "At this rate, I'm bound to screw up and get caught. Now I know how Negi-kun felt..."

"GAH!" Asuna and Setsuna's face stretched into horrified caricatures.

"What now, Secchan? Asuna?" Konoka peered at them curiously.

Their only answer was to point behind her.

Konoka wearily looked over in that direction. Spying on them were Yuma and Yuna Kashiwagi.

The white mage's jaw dropped. "Kashiwagi twins?!"

"It's not Kashiwagi twins! It's Yuma!" One objected.

"I'm Yuna," The other one added to her sister's objection.

"Oh no!" Konoka shed a stream of tears. "I'm busted already, and I've just been in a real world situation! Secchan, what am I gonna do?!"

"Ojou-sama!" Setsuna lamented, fretting over her charge.

"Here we go again..." Asuna sighed.

Despite the exaggerated actions before them, the twins hardly reacted at all. "We knew something was up with the newcomers..." Yuma began.

"...but we had no idea we'd run into... magical girls..." Yuna ended.

Just when Konoka believed the situation couldn't get any worse... it did.

"Bwa ha ha ha ha!" Several swords crashed down between the two separate parties. Making his appearance was the legendary and truly awesome JACK RAKAN. "It appears a first time mage has screwed up and exposed himself!" He looked to see Konoka's mortified face. There was no Negi in sight!

"It's the maid guy!" Konoka shouted.

"Oh, it's the young princess! Sorry, thought you were someone else," Rakan rubbed the back of his head.

"So how come Negi-sensei gets into more trouble than I do if we both mess up?" The Kansai princess wondered.

"Simple! It comes out of your dad's paycheck!" Rakan crowed, followed by more laughter.

Konoka cried again. "I'm sorry, daddy!"

The Kashiwagi twins rushed up to the others, examining them as if they were some new clothes on a mannequin. "Hmm..." Yuma observed, peering at Konoka. "As a magical girl, you sure don't dress the part."

"But she does look like she has potential, yes?" Yuna clicked her tongue. "After all, Behoimi-chan hides her true nature in her nerdy getup."

"I'd say so."

Asuna regarded them with heavy suspicion. "Aren't you guys from our class? Why were you tailing us, anyway?"

"Curiosity got the better of us," Yuma said. "We were trying to thank Springfield-sensei for yesterday, but it looks like we found you guys instead."

"But this is dangerous, you two!" Asuna pleaded. "We've been trying to figure out all the weirdness going on at your school because Miyamoto brat disappeared!"

"That's the thing!" Yuna said. "How'd you get so close to Becky-sensei in such a short time?"

You have no time to ponder such questions, as the darkness has grabbed a smash ball! Okay, not really, but still, the ever growing darkness appeared. A shadow, perhaps resembling a long-haired nymph, formed in front of the group.

Yuma and Yuna remembered. Nightmares, a horrible creature out to kill someone, bearing their faces...

Asuna saw the twins shrink and clutch their heads, overcome with fear. Turning to the darkness, she snarled. "Dammit, what's wrong with you?!"

"**The wrong people fell into my trap. Shame I cannot corrupt any one of you.**" That darkness spoke. "**Negi isn't here.**"

"You speak boldly," Rakan gave a savage grin. "Care to back up that statement?"

"**Perhaps..**." The voice answered. In the shape's left hand, a ball of darkness formed. At that, bursts of black lightning shot towards both random spots in the ground and towards Asuna and Rakan.

"R-Reflectio!" Some fast thinking from Konoka and a brief barrier flashed in front of the two targets. It shattered from the contact of the lightning, but for Rakan, it served its purpose. On the other hand, the other bolt was just a millisecond slow enough to strike Asuna instead of the barrier. The girl tried to shield herself with her arms...

...that turned out to not even be necessary. When she opened her eyes again, Konoka and Setsuna were staring at her with wide eyes. Even the twins stopped shivering long enough to stare in shock. "Wha...?" Asuna began, but simply seeing how she was unharmed allowed her to put two and two together. "How...?!"

"**Hmph... still...**" The darkness gave way to several, worm-like beasts that rose from the ground. Resembling giant, flat centipedes with oversized pincers, the creatures shrieked. "**I think I'll just be done with it for now...**" That nymph-like shape disappeared, just leaving the five of them to deal with the surprise attackers.

Rakan pulled up one of his many blades, savage grin still in place. "Hey ladies... allow me to protect you, and show you how it's done." One of the creatures lunged. With incredible ease, he merely swiped his sword across and cleaved the thing in two. Two more swam forward and tried to snap at him, but the beefy swordsman sprinted to the side, dodging the attack. The monsters gave chase.

"That's no fair!" Konoka complained. "Secchan, let's help him out!"

"Ojou-sama?" Setsuna blinked. "How?"

"Silly Secchan, you forget so quickly! I activate your pactio now!"

"THAT'S RIGHT!" Setsuna realized, nearly jumping up. "Ojou-sama! Activate the contract!"

Konoka nodded. She focused her powers. "Partner: Setsuna Sakurazaki! Show me the power within you!" The magic summoning rune appeared. Konoka reached in the magic orb that appeared in front of her guardian, grabbing the card inside. Setsuna moaned.

At this, the twins, who had been awestruck at this occasion, held each other as their fascination grew.

The bright flash of light stopped. Setsuna stood in her pale blue samurai garb. Without hesitation, she swung forward in a brilliant display of grace and sliced through two of the big centipede-like worms at once.

"Oooooh," The twins marveled, clapping. However, Yuna suddenly added, "...but that's not moe at all."

"Totally isn't!" Yuma agreed.

"What the hell are you two talking about at a time like this?!" Asuna shouted, one of those irritated smiles forming on her face from the absurdity of the situation. From the corner of her eye, she spotted a creature lunge towards her. "Everyone, look out!"

The twins shrieked, and Konoka followed suit.

"Ojou-sama!" Setsuna swerved back to save her charge, but that needn't happen at all—Asuna rushed forward and met the creature with a single punch. The creature shrieked and fell back from the impact before dissipating into dust.

"Again..." Asuna whispered at her newly discovered Shounen Power(tm). Setsuna took a moment to bow to Konoka again before dashing back out to smash more of those crazy worms.

"It's called Magic Cancel," Rakan shouted back towards the group. "Or in some circles, Magic Death!"

"Why do I have this kind of power?!" Asuna shouted to him.

"If ya pay me one million I'll tell ya!" Rakan laughed. Asuna grumbled, but suddenly something caught her attention.

The worms were working together this time, and had multiplied.

"DAH!" Asuna screeched.

Two of them combined a blast of energy, firing at the bystanders. Had Setsuna not sliced the projectile in half, they would've been dark smithereens. "They're getting crazy! We have to find the source!"

"Doesn't matter," Rakan stated. Grabbing one of the twin-bladed swallows, he twirled it in the air. "Because of the darkness, and her inexperience, only one person can wipe them out!" He roared. "**Finisher: Warship Cleaver**!" He chucked the weapon like a javelin, stabbing the ground. The worms shrieked in pain, apparently pinned by his holy weapon. However, they had yet to disappear. "And if you can't guess by now, despite my awesomeness, it's not me."

"Then who..." Setsuna began, but her question was answered.

"Weighted light, travel! Go beyond the door and send it far away!" Who else but Negi Springfield soared right in, his hand glowing with magical power. He looped up into the sky until he was upside down on his staff. Pointing down at the center of the darkness, he bellowed. "TEL MA... AMORIS!" And with that, a light shot down into the darkness, breaking it apart. A fine steam of darkness was all that was left.

Floating slowly towards the land, he looked at the others. "Is everything all right?"

"We're fine, Negi-sensei," Setsuna answered immediately.

"That's great!" Negi smiled, leaping off of his staff. "We couldn't catch anything from the Black Rose Baron, I think he only shows up once an episode anyway, and—" SUDDENLY, HE NOTICES THE KASHIWAGI TWINS. "Ah." Was all he could say.

"Whoa..." Yuma breathed.

"So cute..." Yuna trailed off.

"So cool!" They both attacked him with a fierce volley of hugs.

"Wh-wh-what?!" Negi gibbered in panic, being crushed by their affection.

"Man, and I thought Howell was popular with the ladies," The hug session stopped long enough to notice Jack Rakan grinning broadly at them. "Normally, we're supposed to report people who wantonly reveal their magic side..."

Negi and Konoka both swallowed hard.

"...but Behoimi would be in trouble a thousand times over if we seriously followed a rule like that," Rakan shrugged. "Plus, you're way too popular to get turned into an ermine. So we'll let it slide... _this time_." He began to walk off. "You're the star of the show, kid. The Student Mage Council ain't interested in taking the spotlight." With that, he was gone.

There was a moment of silence as peace peeked in on Peach Moon. Then it fled when the Kashiwagi twins returned their affection smothering on Negi. "You're so cool!" They marveled.

"Oi! Let go, you're gonna suffocate him!" Asuna complained.

Negi had a feeling he really needed to be a few years older to appreciate this.

* * *

"You girls realize you're in deep crap, right?" Rei cast the twins a lazy glare.

That evening, as the sun set and a chilling moon rose in the air, the cast of 1-C circled the twins like a Native American bonfire tribute. Because the school was largely vacant now, it was the perfect setting for the group to interrogate the Kashiwagi twins. Negi's group in 3-A simply sat back and watched with nervous smiles. It was strange—had this been just three weeks ago, it would be them, and not Becky's underlings, that would have been circling the newcomers. It may have been something to do with this being Becky's turf, perhaps.

"We know all sorts of weird things already happen here," Miyako adjusted her glasses, and her forehead shone ominously. "But this is a whole different ballgame."

"This is the secret of the year," Rokugou whispered.

"We've told you the story, so now you're under oath!" Kurumi added.

"You know it's pretty bad when even _I_ have to serious it up," Himeko winked.

"So why did you peek in?" Ichijou asked. "Considering even Watanuki-san stopped snooping."

The girls, not restrained in any fashion, moved for the first time since Becky's finest had plunked them down there. Holding hands they sighed. Yuma spoke first. "We admit... we were kinda curious on how you guys were so close. Becky-sensei disappears for months on end, only to come back a more serious person. Then somebody new comes in when Becky disappears, and you guys are already friends..."

"You guys in 1-C are a pretty tight knit group," Yuna added. "None of the other classes come close."

"Really?" Negi hadn't really paid attention to too many people outside his entourage, but he simply chalked that up to brief ignorance and decided to observe the others next time.

"Huh... now that you mention it..." Kurumi thought back to her experience at Mahora. The people there were... friendlier. Not that this place was cruel or mean at all, but nobody outside of 1-C had really extended the hand of true friendship past one or two people.

"Maybe we wanted some of that closeness, too," Yuma said, one of those sad smiles on her face.

"I know what'll cheer you ladies up!" Chamo finally appeared! Crawling out of his sleeping spot on Negi's front pocket, he gave them a thumbs-up. "How about you make a pactio with big bro? You get cool powers, and then everyone else will have no choice but to let you in!"

"A pactio?" The twins chorused. They remembered Konoka summoning Setsuna's powers with that.

"That's not the issue, here," Rei pointed out sharply. "Lately it hasn't been all sunshine and roses for us. We're up against weirdos who want nothing more than certain death to all involved, and we still have a demented swan with a damsel-in-distress complex who can still swoop in on us at any moment." (Rokugou blushed hard at that statement.) "It's not a question of 'will they fit in', it's a question of 'can they handle it?'"

"Of course we can!" Yuma immediately objected.

"We've come too far to run now," Yuna added sheepishly.

There was a moment of silence. 3-A and 1-C traded looks. Seeing the conviction on their faces, Rei finally shrugged. "If that's the case, who am I to stop them. Fine, ermine, tell them what they need to do."

Wasting no time, Chamo summoned the pactio circle. "So how about it! Just step right in and kiss big bro on the lips!"

"A kiss...?" Yuma began.

"On the lips...?" Yuna ended. "So bold..." They both blushed hard, but stepped forward anyway.

"That's the way it goes," Negi sheepishly rubbed his neck. "Sorr—" He found his apology interrupted with Yuma locking her lips with his, much to his shock. When she parted, she twirled out of the way. Negi barely got any breathing time before the gentler Yuna too, claimed his lips.

"PACTIO!" The ermine bellowed, and the cards formed from the heavens and lodged themselves into the girls' souls. "WOOO! More ladies! More pactios means more power to you and more money for me!" Chamo danced about in victory.

"Somebody stop that ermine before he gets any more bright ideas!" Asuna snarled, a vein bursting on her forehead.

While the majority of 3-A and 1-C simply laughed as Setsuna and Akira moved to put Chamo in his place, Yuma and Yuna simply exchanged a smile between them.

Ichijou looked outside, briefly catching some square shape peeking in on them—well, maybe not, since when she looked harder, that familiar, boxy shape was gone. Figuring that the spy was in fact, not a threat, she went back to gathering her friends to move out for the night.

With that, this episode's going in for a close. What will the Kashiwagi twins bring to the Negima table?! What of Asuna's mysterious power? And what exactly is the Student Mage Council up to? TUNE IN NEXT TIME!

**-X-X-X-**

**OMAKE!**

The moon rose high that night.

A shape crashed into the earth, somehow landing gracefully on its feet. A vague, hulking shadow, it only took a moment to recover from its rough landing before looking up at the crescent moon. The empty streets did not matter, neither did the few lights on the road—the moon shined so bright it was like the earth had a night lamp.

Perhaps this curse had its perks after all.

He really wished he knew where the hell it came from exactly. The memories of the last few days had been fuzzy. He figured a nightly jog would clear up his head... but even so, it wasn't quite clear just yet.

Throwing caution to the wind, he howled like a wolf.

Lucky him. Somebody answered the call. "My, my, acting dangerously at night just might get you killed, young one." A pleasantly dangerous voice called.

He looked over to see a blue-haired maiden gazing down at him from the top of her house. "You're not causing trouble, are you?" She continued.

"I sure hope not," The guttural response came. "I'd thought a night run would keep my head cool and the darkness out of my thoughts."

"I see," The woman folded her arms. He couldn't tell if she was gazing at him, considering her eyes looked closed, much like anyone with fox's eyes. "I gaze upon this land, night and day, keeping the trouble away from home. To see something as monstrous as yourself... you must forgive me for my prejudices."

"Don't worry about it," He responded. "I'd be worried about me, too."

"You're still looking for that self confidence, I take it!" The woman giggled. "Don't worry yourself, you will surely find it."

With that, the creature decided he had enough. Sprinting into the night, the creature was gone in the flash.

Confident that there was no threat to be had, Ao Suzuki quietly retreated into her house.

**-X-X-**

NEXT TIME: "Who Sings Nocturnes in the Moonlight?" by Connor

('Sup everybody! Finals are done, and next semester has work and probably a shot at me stage designing. So what does that mean?! Work at roughly the same pace that I've always been doing! YAY.)


	6. Who Sings a Nocturne in the Moonlight?

**Nightmare?!**

**Episode 5: "Who Sings a Nocturne in the Moonlight?" by Connor**

"Shady meetings again, I take it," Ichijou murmured to the person leaning on her back.

"Under the stars?" Howell asked, running a quick hand through his white hair. "Who needs shade?"

"Yo~, stop being witty back there," Connor muttered. "Deathsmiles is on his way."

This small group had gathered under the gaze of the full moon, on the rooftop of the hotel the group had secured as their own—Crystal Teardrops Hotel. The air above was crisp and just a bit cool, perhaps due to the changing seasons. Connor unfolded his arms and rose up to meet their big leader as Albeiro Imma appeared in a swirl of wind. The man's face looked a bit... more serious than normal, considering he still had that way-too-goddamn-cheery smile on his face. "Are we all here?"

"How about Stealth Spy Roboko?" Ichijou asked, but Howell silenced her with a backhand-like gesture.

"I'm actually here, ya know," A slightly scratchy voice chirped. A boxy robot with a pink shirt seemed to flash into existence. How a robot could pull off such ninja-like moves would evade the common man for years, that was until said robot removed its helmet-slash-mask, revealing a blue-haired girl underneath. Tufts of her hair stuck out like cat's ears. "But I can never guess what you're up to, either."

"Oy, Serizawa, nice seein' ya again!" Rakan laughed. "Wondering where you were hiding!"

"Probably failing to confess her feelings to Gojikko again," Connor muttered. He was rewarded with a shiruken to the forehead. "Goddammit!" He complained as he removed the offensive item and readjusted his bandanna to stop the exaggerated bleeding.

"While I'm not too fond of second parties during meetings, Howell won't pay attention otherwise," Al turned to Ichijou. "So I suppose I'll let you stay. Save your smart remarks, though. I have that market cornered~"

"Who cares about a market like that?" snapped a girl wearing thick glasses.

"Now Behoimi-chan, that's not nice," The green-haired maid chided her comrade. Simply known as Media, the young maid had a perpetual smile, though unlike Al it was one hundred percent genuine at all times instead of ninety percent at half the time.

This un-magical-girl-like Behoimi merely snorted a bit before moving back to business. "Anyway, what did you call us out here for? It's getting cold and I've got homework up the wazoo."

"Hahaha, fine, fine," Albiero snapped the book he was holding. "Anyway, it's been a while since we've all been together like this. We've had our previous meeting when Negi Springfield first arrived, but now that all seven of us are here, we can finally get started. Serizawa, what have you learned?"

The actress cleared her throat. "Negi Springfield is working pretty well in Peach Moon, and all of his partners are as well... speaking of which, he made two new ones here, too."

"Who?" Media asked.

"Kashiwagi twins," Ichijou suddenly spoke up. When all heads turned to her, she simply added, "I was there."

"Oh god, the twins?!" Behoimi's jaw fell crooked. "Man, if he were a few years older, there'd never be a virgin within a five mile radius of him!"

"Some mages have actually tried to study that effect," Howell added. "I of course told them that they were merely jealous about not getting laid, but then they punched me!" The white-haired youth lamented. "And I was only trying to help!" Howell shed dramatic tears, while Ichijou mutely soothed him for added effect.

"It's only because tact is beyond you," Connor snarled. "If you worked on it, you might not be on the receiving end of so much abuse."

"Now now, boys, play nice," Al said. "Serizawa, if you would continue."

"Seems that Negi already has some pactios within class 1-C, considering how they grilled the twins before they let them do the deed," Serizawa continued. "I suspect he might have one with the missing Becky-chan too."

"I could have told you that," Ichijou piped up again, getting stares once more. The honorary eighth member didn't even bat an eyelash—as expected of 1-C's strangest personality. _What a perfect match for Howell,_ everyone else thought, beating the audience over the head with some unknown symbolism.

"If you think we need a recap about what went on during Becky's trip to Mahora, don't bother," Connor waved off Ichijou's random help. "We've heard already."

"Anyway..." Serizawa calmly snatched the lead again, as if she were used to this. "Negi's staff... it's probably the best proof that we've got that Nagi Springfield may still be alive. After all, even if he couldn't control it, he's the last person that knows of the full extent of the Star Crystal."

"Star Crystal, huh?" Connor muttered. "Everyone keeps talking about this thing with infinite power and how even the Thousand Master couldn't control it... but what the hell does it _do_?! You think the moron that jacked it might know?"

"That's the primary reason we're here investigating this, is it not?" Albiero succinctly stated. "The old masters are far too secret and slow with matters like this. We need the answers for ourselves, and it may benefit our tiny teachers to know, too."

"I see," Satisfied, Connor relaxed again.

"I detected plural in Al's last sentence~!" Media sang lightly. "You think Becky wants to be involved?"

"You know her more than anyone else here, save Howell's number two," Rakan's smile was slight, his face more serious. "What do you think?"

Media's face changed to that of deep consternation, even gaining a concerned glance from Behoimi.

"To sum this up, the Star Crystal is heavily connected to Negi—keep your eyes on him, and the mysteries that follow are sure to reveal themselves." Al opened up his book again. "Toodles~!" Everyone split in their own direction like shounen villain ninjas. But before Connor could completely leave, Al spoke up again. "Don't forget, Connor. You've got watch duty all day tomorrow."

"Goddammit." Connor cursed.

"Did you say something, dearie?" Albiero asked far too pleasantly.

"No."

* * *

"Hard to believe it's the weekend already," Asuna yawned. "I'm going back to the hotel and sleeping." In that span of time since our shady meeting, the next day had come, and quite frankly, was on its way out. Negi and his chosen 3-A crew had made their way back to the hotel to regroup.

"Asuna-san, that won't do!" Negi said, putting up one of those adorable flailing tricks kids use these days. "This is the first time we'll have any good chance of searching for Becky!"

"We've got all night and Sunday," Asuna responded grouchily. "I need a snooze. And to angst in peace for about five minutes." She huffed before finally stalking off towards the hotel.

Negi sighed, unsure as to why Asuna felt particularly unhappy. "Asuna-san... what's wrong?" He thought out loud and sadly.

"Negi-kun..." Konoka jogged a bit to catch up to him. "I'm not too sure either, but that strange man from the Student Mage Council said something to her Thursday that has her thinking ever since."

"Okay then," Negi rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I'll talk to her about it when she wakes up." He turned to the rest of the group that was following. "But even without Asuna, the search for clues about Becky's whereabouts must go on. I'm not sure how much spare time I'll get from now to Sunday, considering I have papers to grade, but finding out anything that will either help us find her or convince her to come out of hiding will be the first step to dealing with the mystery of Peach Moon. Does everyone understand?"

"Yes, sensei~!" Everyone else answered, a bit louder than he thought for five other people.

Negi smiled for a bit, before whirling around for a head count. There weren't five people behind him! There were thirteen!

Negi's five looked at the small crowd that had gathered... all of them affiliates of Negi's from Peach Moon. "'Sup," Himeko greeted. "You said you were lookin' for Becky? We omega wanna help!"

* * *

"So, Konoe-san," Yuma started off, once the twins, Konoka, and Setsuna were safely in Konoka's room. "While Negi-sensei is the star of the show, you're the first magical girl we saw. Are you in training, too?"

Konoka looked at the twins as they walked in on her in the room. "Yeah... but I haven't been at it as long as he has. While I've been a mage since birth, I only recently learned about all the goings on after Negi-kun saved me from a fairy attack." Konoka shot a gaze at Setsuna, who was sitting peacefully on her knees. "Secchan is my childhood friend. She's been protecting me since she could lift a sword. She is truly a friend."

"Ojou-sama," Setsuna said demurely. "I am not worthy of your praise." There was the slightest tinge of red on her cheeks.

"And here I thought there was something different," Yuna pouted. "That's not moe at all..."

"Exactly!" Yuma interjected. "Just like that costume she had when you summoned her power! It's not moe at all!"

"Moe?!" Setsuna interjected. "What is with your obsession with moe?! Weren't you focused on Miyazaki just a day or two ago?! I belong not in the affairs of moe!" She turned her back on the others, serving those silly children right.

Konoka pouted. Bad move, Setsuna.

"You say that..." The more reserved Yuna began. "...but we've been modeling clothes for years. We have a sharp eye, and especially in the eye of your um... master, you definitely have the potential."

"You can't hide it, girlfriend," Yuma smiled and wagged her finger. "Chalk it up as our obsession all you want, but clothes make the woman, regardless of the situation. And we think we can pull out your potential—no, thanks to being joined with Negi-sensei, we can pull out _everyone's_ potential."

"Really?" Konoka's eyes sparkled.

At this point, Setsuna knew she was _screwed_. "B-b-b-bu-bu-bu-bu-but but..."

"Konoe-san!" Yuma and Yuna bellowed in chorus. "Allow us to show our skills at fashion design, using Sakurazaki-san as our model!" They grabbed Setsuna as a sign that they meant business.

Konoka looked between the three of them, her face unreadable. Coming to a decision at last, the girl smiled. "Show me what you have. Make Secchan pretty." As if there was room for any doubt. HA!

* * *

Negi quietly stepped into the room. Asuna was lying there, curled under her covers. "Asuna-san?" He whispered, weary of disturbing her if she was actually asleep. The boy dropped his staff and stepped closer.

"Go away..." Asuna muttered.

"Asuna-san..." Negi sighed sadly. "Why are you upset?"

"Man..." Asuna figured Negi was both persistent and enough of a bleeding heart to continue pestering her, so she finally gave in. "I have weirdo powers."

"Weirdo powers?" Negi blinked.

"Yeah, that one MANLY dude described it as 'Magic Death' or something," Asuna stopped hiding completely and poked her face out at Negi. "I have no idea _why_ I have these powers, and somebody who knows the answer won't tell me. And I'm worried about what this means..."

"Asuna-san, you shouldn't worry about being outcast because you have powers," Negi offered, giving a smile. "After all, we're all a collection of different people, who all share the same sky. Someone once told me that even if we have different ideas, we all share one sky, and one destiny!"

"Knew you'd say that," Asuna grunted. "And that's not what I mean. You've been aware of your powers since birth. I only recently got mixed up in all this, so you know what that means?!" She sat up straight, her face desperate. "My life is a lie! You know how things go when you get strange new powers! There's no way my parents would be aware of things like this, so I'm probably doomed to some tragic past I'd rather not know about! My life is a lie, just like that goddamn cake..." She sobbed hysterically while pounding the floor.

"Asuna-san," Negi gave an awkward smile, chaos knows what else he could've done. And what the hell was she talking about with the cake?!

"I'll just get all my angsting over with now so I don't have to deal with it later," Asuna went back to sulking under her covers, just as Nodoka let herself in, followed by Rei.

"Negi-sensei," Nodoka greeted kindly. However, upon seeing Asuna sulking in her sheets, changed her face to concern. "What's wrong with Asuna-san?"

"She thinks her life is a lie," Negi answered sadly. "So she wants to get the angst out of the way. But that's simply not true!"

"Angsting all at once could ruin future character development!" Nodoka worried.

"_Attempting_ to be genre savvy never works out in the long run," Rei waved off Asuna's sorrow and bit back a smirk. "You actually have to know what's going on."

"The hell are you talking about?!" Asuna, angst forgotten, immediately snapped up and snarled at Rei.

"For somebody who's usually only book dumb, you sure are being everything-else-dumb, too." The sinister Chinese girl smoothly continued her chastisement.

"Why you little—" Asuna nearly moved to attack. Nodoka couldn't decide if she should move to stop her friend or jump back in fear.

"Now girls, please don't fight amongst each other," Negi saved Nodoka the bother, always the underaged diplomat.

Asuna relented, though her anger was still there.

Rei, on the other hand, was winding down (somewhat) even without Negi's request. "Fine, fine. To put it simply, I need to clear a few things up." Rei crossed her arms. "The Student Mage Council have their eyes on us for some reason. Chao was telling me about that, earlier."

"Really?" Negi asked. "Why didn't you tell us this earlier."

"Slipped my mind since they themselves aren't doing anything I'd deem too suspicious... yet."

* * *

"_Anyway, the Student Mage Council is actually a joint effort between both of our schools. Chao informed me that they moved here just as you did. Because of the watchful eye of all the elders in Mahora, they couldn't move so close to us—but out here, they have full jurisdiction."_

In the foyer of the hotel, Connor strolled in after a patrol outside. He found nothing dangerous of note, even as the sun disappeared over the horizon. Seeing a few of the girls chattering, he gave a friendly wave. No longer trapped in that awful and unmanly maid suit, he could actually greet other people with streetwise confidence and badassery! How's _that_ for being a representative?!

"_Eh?!"_

"_Yep, they're shoehorning their way into the Star Crystal business. I don't know why they feel they have a stake in it, though. Might have something to do with 3-A. In any case it might be why they know something about you, Asuna-san."_

The bandanna-bearing boy asked about the weather, and why there were so many extra guests. The girls claimed they'd be seriously searching for Becky. Connor's interest was caught! Were all of these girls partners of the popular Negi Springfield as well?

"_Really. Why don't they approach us directly, considering that they could know more about me than I do?! That's super creepy!"_

"_Looks like they'd rather be creepy than threatening or rude. That's just how they roll. Or maybe they're all ninjas. But that doesn't mean that they have access to stuff we don't. Magic Cancel, or 'Magic Death', as that muscle-head called it, is supposedly a divine ability to negate any and all forms of magic. Apparently that ability is pretty rare—that's why nobody has ever studied it that much."_

There was much idle chat, that was until Connor saw a faint figure up the balcony, trying to sneak away. The signature wasn't familiar to him (since he often caught Serizawa sneaking around a lot), so he immediately assumed a fighting stance, startling the few girls around him. However, in the end he only spotted someone currently non-threatening. The girls followed his gaze to see a nervous Setsuna Sakurazaki, quietly trying to make her escape.

Connor called out to her. The shock she displayed was like an exclamation point showing up above someone caught in a spotlight. Just as well, since five seconds later she was doomed. Within seconds, Konoka appeared, followed by the twins. All three immediately swarmed the girl before dragging her back into the yuri abyss despite her quiet, doomed pleas.

"_So I can negate magic, huh? So how come Negi's contract works, and Konoka can heal me?"_

"_Don't know for sure, but likely it has to be a conscious effort on your part. Beyond that, looks like you'll have to confront the Student Mage Council on what they know."_

Everyone on the ground floor just stared blankly. I mean, she did look cute.

* * *

"Dozens of mysteries, and they only get deeper..." Asuna attempted to think hard. However, she failed miserably. "Screw thinking about it, my head will burst. I'm better off not pretending that I'm intelligent."

"Acknowledgment is the first step in dealing with problems!" Negi happily supplied, only to get a grade A sucker punch to the head. "Owww, I'm sorry!"

"Asuna-san, please r-refrain from violence on Negi-sensei!" Nodoka tried to pipe up.

Unfortunately, that failed, since about that time, the lights went out.

"Eep!" The shy Library girl immediately clung onto the underaged genius as if he were life support.

"That's mighty convenient," Rei stated, stealing my line. That's convenient too, ya know.

Alas, alas, the world was suddenly a whole lot darker. Only faint light from a few mobile devices kept the place from completely falling into darkness. Negi could hear the unrest and worry outside. However, he first needed to deal with a small issue. "Ummm Nodoka-san... please let go."

"Ah! I'm sorry!" The girl immediately let go of Negi and hopped backwards to give the boy space.

"That's fine!" Negi gave a smile in the darkness, uncertain if it reached anyone, let alone Nodoka. "We need to check on the others."

They stepped outside into the foyer, by now their eyes had adjusted for the lack of light. Still, even the peaceful hotel looked quite uninviting in this shadowed place. "Is everyone okay?"

"I think so..." He heard Miyako wearily. "But dammit, I knew we should've moved out earlier!"

"It's kinda creepy in here now, maho~" Himeko added in worriedly.

"It's the darkness of the year," Rokugou added, which earned her multiple stares. "W-what?! I wasn't referring to that person!" Somewhere, that person suddenly felt proud of himself for no particular reason.

There was a stirring in Negi's pocket, and Chamo appeared. "Oi, big bro! Who turned off the lights?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Negi answered.

"Okay, everybody, don't panic at what I'm about to do," The voice of Connor reached through everyone. There was a bit of discussion at this, until Connor did something purely amazing—he turned on a flashlight. And thus, a holy light shone, defeating the darkness and allowing our heroes to actually begin their quest to defeat that dread dark—"Umm, get on with it." Oh, oh right. "So we have a power failure. And to the back of us is some spooky woods. Study your horror movies, and don't go out or into any weird places by yourself, got it?" He could make out some nods, so that was good enough. "I'm going to investigate the fuse box and see if anything went wrong with that. Not by myself of course."

"Allow me!" Setsuna boldly crowed, somehow managing to navigate the darkness without running into anyone.

"I'm coming too!" Konoka added within seconds, following her.

"Ojou-sama, it's dangerous."

"I won't learn to fight danger if I'm always coddled, and besides, you're just trying to escape the Kashiwagi fashion show." Even in the darkness, where no one can see you scream, everyone can see your embarrassed spittake.

"Just come on!" Connor cut the bickering and motioned for them to follow as he stormed out the door. The two followed him.

This left the group with an eerie silence once again. It was so silent that Negi could practically hear the exchanged glances.

Negi could feel Chamo sit up and sniff the air. "I don't like this. Something's up."

"What do you mean?" Negi asked.

"Lights going out, all the staff is gone, except for one dude who warns about horror movies?!" Chamo chanced. "This has to be a trap!"

Negi sighed. "Chamo-kun, don't jump to conclusions so quickly! We don't know what's goi—" Negi's voice simply cut off as the boy heard a long, haunting howl in the distance. At the same time, his staff glowed.

Darkness was on the move.

Negi bit his lip.

Kurumi quietly shed tears. "Why do you have to be right _now_ of all times? I swear this isn't Japan anymore!"

"Hush, hush!" Miyako snarled. "Anyway, why don't we split up a bit? Traveling in too large a group just makes us as easy pickings as if we were all by ourselves. Negi-sensei, take a few of us and take care of whatever creepy crap is dancing around out there."

"Yeah, and the rest of us can stay here to hold the fort," Rokugou agreed. "Since not all of us have a contract with you."

"Speaking of that," Rei looked around, though in the darkness that wasn't too useful. "Where's Ichijou?"

Someone pointed a finger to an open window sill. All eyes followed it to see Ichijou, leaning on it and staring outside. If one had good vision, one could see faint features of concern.

"They could be at it again..." She said it listlessly, though there could be a touch of concern or sadness somewhere within.

* * *

"The amount of darkness crawling everywhere is... astounding," Albiero noted from his perch atop the tree. "The power the Star Crystal thief is capable of is nothing to sneeze at." He turned to the few others still there that night. "I think it's a trap for dear old Negi, by the looks of things. We should take care of it."

"Geez... it's been ages since I've actually been able to suit up," Behoimi murmured.

"Is it okay to leave Connor by himself? Howell and Rakan aren't around," Media asked pleasantly.

"He'll need faith in himself," Al responded with a wry smile. "It's as much of a test for him as it is for Negi." He swirled and leapt off into the forest.

"Now!" Behoimi's demeanor suddenly changed, from the sullen and sarcastic girl we have seen so far into something else. "It's time I got back in business! HENSHIN A GO-GO BABY!" And thusly, we are treated to a long animation sequence which cannot be shown, because this is a story and not an anime.

Just as she finished, changing from boring school clothes into a hot pink sailor suit and boots, Media immediately swept her off her feet. "H-hey! What are you doing?!"

"We have to get going~" Media cheerily supplied as she leapt off the roof.

"Hold it! I can do that myself!" Magical Girl Behoimi-chan protested. "Let me goooo!"

* * *

The moon stood high, glaring down a half-closed eye upon the unsettling forest. The air was merely cool, but due to the nervousness of Negi and his small band, it may as well have been below freezing.

Negi had picked a small team, consisting of Akira, Asuna, Himeko, Miyako, and Nodoka. Miyako already had her armor card activated, and Akira had none at all, opting to save her strength for when the team needed it. Everyone else was in cosplay form.

"I don't like the looks of this..." Miyako looked about wearily.

"It is quite scary," Akira added. "But I'm worried about the others back at the dorm."

"I think they'll be fine. Konoka-san, Setsuna-san and Connor-san are there after all," Nodoka reassured her classmates.

Negi clutched his staff tightly, with it still a beacon in sensing out the unusual darkness. Chamo, also highly alert, kept his eyes peeled. "Be on your guard," the ermine whispered. Negi merely nodded.

The girls stopped as Negi suddenly dropped into a focused fighting stance, his staff pointed towards something. The girls, while curious as to what had Negi's attention, dared not interrupt his concentration. There was nothing but silence for a few moments.

A shape of darkness shot towards them! Negi expertly twirled about and smashed his staff into the shape, his staff glowing with light. "TEL MA AMORIS!" Light shined, and the darkness dissipated into nothingness.

The girls couldn't help but clap. "Not bad, Negi," Asuna grinned.

"Negi-sensei..." Nodoka was of course, lovestruck.

Negi simply giggled abashedly.

The celebration, however, was stopped short when Chamo popped up, his panic immediate. "GIRLS!"

"What?" The girls blinked.

"WATCH OU—" But the warning came too late.

In the blink of an eye, Himeko simply _disappeared_. A second later, Negi saw she had been slammed into a tree trunk, completely unconscious.

"Himeko-san!" Negi cried out in alarm. His eyes barely caught some hulking _shape_ scuttling into the woods.

"Dammit! How the hell did that happen?!" Miyako's voice was strained with panic. She looked over to Himeko's unconscious form—oh wait she's not there! "WHAT?!"

"The hell is going on here?!" Asuna screeched.

"Negi-sensei, we need to move," Akira advised quickly. "_Now_."

The boy didn't need to be told twice. The now five strong group sprinted into the forest, desperate to find some lead on the darkness that they saw. The mounting panic was not helping them out in the least.

In the corner of Negi's eye, a shape of darkness began to fade into view. "Everyone, watch out!" He shouted. He aimed his staff to smite the vague and nightmarish shape, but Miyako was faster on the draw.

"I got this... PK FIRE!" Miyako swept her hand forward, and a small bolt of lightning shot forward, blasting into the shape and setting it on fire. It too, ceased to exist.

That didn't stop the other shape Miyako saw. It too, appearing to lumber on all fours, was running evenly with them. Miyako's panic increased as whatever the hell it was raised a claw, attempting to swipe the unknowing Nodoka.

"Nodoka!" Miyako felt her call for attention was too late—she dived forward, pushing Nodoka out the way.

"Wha—?!" Nodoka tripped, apparently evading a claw aimed for her body. To her horror, she saw Miyako being swept away instead. The girl screamed, catching the others' attention.

"Miyako-san too?!" Negi's eyes were wide.

"Big bro! This thing is trying to take us out one by one!" Chamo pointed out in alarming fashion.

Negi, rather than panic more, actually sobered up, his face sullen. "This was an obvious trap... What I thought would be one source of darkness turned out to be even more lethal than I expected... and now my students are—!"

-SMACK-

"Third time I've had to do this today!" Asuna complained as Negi rubbed his head from the pain. "Keep it together! We'll send this thing packing!"

"Could we not beat up Negi-sensei, please?" Akira asked, giving a nervous smile to Asuna. "Even if he does need to keep it together..."

"Umm..." Nodoka reached in the conversation, despite her shyness. "If I can track the thoughts of this thing, maybe it can't surprise us anymore?"

"That's a great idea, miss!" Chamo cheered. "It's not guaranteed to work but it's the best thing we can try. Go on, see if you can find it!"

"No it's not!" Asuna objected. "How the hell can you read the thoughts of somebody without first knowing about them or at least seeing them?"

Nodoka adjusted those cute glasses (which had miraculously survived her running around without being skewed, something an original character could never get away with) and opened her book. "I can't know until I try..." Nothing appeared just yet. However, suddenly, thoughts appeared. "This place is quite scary, but I bet if there was a pool somewhere, I could have the advantage!" Nodoka read out loud.

A moment passed.

"Akira-san!" Nodoka complained.

"I'm sorry," Akira murmured, abashedly rubbing her neck.

Nodoka simply sighed and turned the page, she concentrated again. Thoughts appeared once more. She read them out loud. "This is completely crazy! This is a fine time to not be wearing any—"

INSTANT HEADLOCK! Asuna didn't bother letting Nodoka complete that sentence. "I told you it wouldn't work!"

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Nodoka cried, with Asuna threatening to suffocate her. Somehow, through Asuna's death grip, she turned the page to a fresh slot. After a moment, more thoughts appeared. Nodoka didn't read them this time. Rather, everyone else peered at it, for it said something quite different.

"Get them out of the way. Won't kill them! Get them out of the way. Won't kill them!"

Negi saw that it had repeated for some time. "What...?"

But before he could react any further, he noticed that a claw had settled on Nodoka. "Nodoka-san—!"

"Huh?" The girl blinked. The elastic claw pulled her upwards and slung her sky high, with the girl screaming all the way.

"NODOKA-SAN!" Negi screamed. Without hesitation, he mounted his staff and shot straight up, trying to chase and rescue the girl from a nasty fall. Only Asuna and Akira were left to deal with the nasty creature that suddenly tried to swipe at them.

"Ah!" Akira cried, bursting out of harm's way with a water blast.

Asuna didn't think twice. She scrambled backwards as the hulking creature gave chase. Asuna turned tail and ran at full force, with Akira just behind her.

Bad news, girls: no running away for you!

All of a sudden, they simply saw a massive tree land right in front of them, branches first. They screeched to a halt, stepping wearily backwards as said tree slowly fell to the ground with a thud. No place left to run, they assumed a fighting stance.

The creature, now visible before them, howled like a wolf, its dull green eyes locked onto them. Fear gripped them, not letting them make a move as the creature eventually crouched on all fours. So it was a bit of a shock when the creature suddenly spoke, "Dammit! I screwed up!"

"WAH!" Asuna screeched, her eyes wide open, pointing at the hulking beast before them. "It's a WERE-CHUPACABRA!"

"I'm not a were-chupacabra!" The creature bellowed. "I'm a werehog! WERE. HOG."

"No wait..." Akira recognized that visage. The blue fur, the spines on his back... "Sonic-san? What happened to you? And why have you been assaulting our friends?" Randomly, something else occurred to her thoughts. "And technically, you aren't a werehog, since no part of you is human. Aren't you a wolfhog?"

"Same difference!" Sonic the Werehog snapped. "I'm just not a chupacabra!"

"I don't care... chupacabra or were-chupacabra, I'm kicking your ass tonight," Asuna assumed a fighting stance. "I don't care if you're not a real bad guy, you don't go smacking around people's friends!"

"Umm, could we... not fight?" Akira offered. "There's obviously a growing misunderstanding going on here."

"No can do!" Sonic the Werehog muttered. "You missed that weird door, didn't ya?" Akira shot a glance to her left, and sure enough, there was that obnoxious boss door again. No doubt a prank played by the darkness. "We gotta fight until someone falls and that random orange thingy spawns!"

"Fine by me!" Asuna thumped her chest. "I'll be capturing a Chupacabra tonight!"

"I hate you so much right now!" Sonic retorted, his riposte segueing into a powerful roar.

Things were going to get ugly.

**-X-X-X-**

**OMAKE!**

A common creed. The one the seven of them always lived by.

"It is the sworn duty of the Student Mage Council to ensure the safety of the schools and their students when regular means are impossible..."

A tiny girl, wandering about the muddy outlet, easily but accidentally slid past the massive police tape, ignoring the sign that screeched, "DANGER! 18-WHEELER CONVENTION IN PROGRESS!"

"...to protect people from the shadows. To never seek reward for their actions..."

Back then, that strange girl could only watch in the closest thing she had for horror, which was a face etched in concern and sadness.

"...and to always do their best..."

The little child saw herself between two giant trucks, on a collision course with each other—and her. She could not comprehend her fate. Which is just as well, since someone had something to say about that.

"...without the slightest regard for their own life or personal happiness." So said the boy with the key, the original lightened one, etc. etc. Amen. He passed that creed to one Albiero Imma, before he literally left this world. In the boy's honor, the mysterious teenage youth adopted that creed, and all seven of the Student Mage Council lived strongly by those words.

With effort impossible to normal humans, a form easily twirled between the machines, stopping them from crashing into each other and the little girl underneath by simply blocking with one hand and the opposite foot. And so the day... is SAVED! Thanks to—

The awkward white-haired boy and the strange girl traded looks. Finally, the girl spoke. "You saved my little sister from two intersecting 18-wheelers. _Rock on_. To repay you, I will grant you three wishes."

"_Okay_!" The awkward white-haired boy crowed. "Then I wish that an asteroid shower would knock the earth off orbit and hurtling into Mars!"

"_Shazam_! Ask and ye shall receive." The strange girl said, having no qualms with dooming the earth.

Pleased with this, the white-haired youth then calmly said, "Welp! Looks like I have to erase your memories now. Your pet's, too."

"But I'm a mage, too," The strange girl pleaded. "And that's my sister."

"Oh, I'm sorry," The boy said. "Thought you were just a normal student."

"What kind of normal student would offer you three wishes?"

"I have to go now. See you~" The boy began to leave, but that was stopped short.

"HOWELL!" Somebody called.

"Oh hay Connor!" This white-haired boy greeted the bandanna'd youth, and they began talking rapidly about many subjects in the magic world, including insane fairy attacks and old Gensokyo lore.

"Oh now I see," The girl said. "There is a large community of magic users, sorcerers, and wizards and the like that help people from behind the scenes but largely stay out of the public eye."

"But I thought you said you were a mage?" The man known as Howell asked. Connor looked quite mortified.

The girl softly looked from left to right. Finally, she spoke up. "December fools."

Howell laughed hard.

"THAT'S NOT FUNNY!" Connor shouted, by now in a panic. "Erase her memories! Quick!"

"Nah... I don't feel like it," Howell suddenly lost interest.

This was the beginning of the tale of how Ichijou met her current master.

**-X-X-**

NEXT TIME: "The Werehog Revealed!" by Akira

(Hey guys, happy holidays! If I'm fast you'll see the next update Saturday. If not, don't blame me. Tune in next time to point and laugh at Sonic's horrible luck stat!)


	7. The Werehog Revealed!

**Nightmare?!**

**Episode 6: "The Werehog Revealed!" by Akira**

The blue... hedgehog/werehog/wolfhog thing had stopped trying to be intimidating, as his goofy yet powerful presence was somehow enough. It was this lumbering creature, a malformation of Sonic twisted by darkness (and some say bad design decisions by Sonic Team), that stood before the two girls—while violent, up until now he hadn't seriously been malignant. That was of course, until Asuna pissed him off and the boss door sealed the three of them in one fell swoop.

Now Asuna and Akira simply dropped into a crouch, ready to fight.

Sonic struck first. A wide, sweeping blow with his left claw nearly clipped Asuna, had she not stumbled backwards. Not even a second later, another wide claw swung in from the opposite direction. Asuna blocked this with her fan, though she visibly flinched. Unfortunately for her that wolfhog creature swung his left again, and Asuna sailed into the air. To her horror, Sonic didn't even stop—he jumped up, and with both outstretched claws, slammed her into the ground.

Akira had enough of this. She galloped straight in, flowing into a flip kick that knocked the malformed hedgehog out of his vicious combo. She landed for a second kick, but by then Sonic had deftly twirled out of harm's way. By now, Asuna recovered, ready to strike but not yet pressing an attack.

Sonic hopped back before moving forward with his claws, swiping at the two girls.

"Bastard outranges us!" Asuna complained. Akira merely gritted her teeth.

"Damn right I do!" Sonic bellowed, and as a nice retort he sent another present their way—OH SNAP WATCH OUT FOR THAT TREE!

Akira and Asuna rolled out of harm's way as the top of the tree crashed into the ground, followed by the rest of it a moment later.

Asuna found herself alone. Gripping her sword tightly, she nearly strained her ears to make out any sounds in the forest—footsteps, the chupacab—err I mean werehog/wolfhog, Akira, anything. A quiet step, another one, another one...

And then there was a TWIG SNAP!

Asuna fiercely aimed her fan, only seeing—nothing. Dammit, she was too tense right now! That freaking chupacabra was probably trying out his best rape face somewhere else!

Like right behind her, maybe? Asuna turned to see Sonic with an unearthly grin. "Ah, shi—"

-BAM- Sonic backhanded her into the air, easily sending her off into the sky with ease. Asuna forced herself to recover in midair as the beast followed through, leaping into the air to aim another slash. That wasn't happening today—Asuna flipped over the attack, pushed herself forward and -POW- RIGHT IN THE KISSER!

Finally appearing out of the shadows, Akira darted forward. She pumped her legs and shot up, flowing into a powerful kick that smashed right into Sonic's gut. The werebeast sailed helplessly into the air.

Suddenly, he slammed one hand into the ground just before the rest of him did. Using almost impossible momentum, Sonic swung around, stretching his other arm, and sent it crashing into Akira. "Gaugh!" The girl bounced once before landing painfully on the ground.

"Akira-san!" Asuna exclaimed, seeing the girl strain to recover.

"If you stayed down, I wouldn't have to hurt you!" Sonic snapped.

Asuna simply clenched her teeth. Was there any point? Were they really just getting in the way of something more dangerous? Or was the darkness clouding Sonic's judgment? "You sure have a funny way of expressing that!" Asuna decided to cast thought to the wind. "Rrrraaaauuuggghh!"

Sonic merely snarled and scampered towards his prey, aiming one powerful claw...

Suddenly, instead of attacking, Asuna stopped and ducked. Sonic's attack missed, landing him right into her strike zone! With the blue werebeast's massive range finally negated, Asuna was free to land a critical blow. And land it she did, with one final swing to the chest.

The former hedgehog's eyes bulged as Asuna scored a perfect homerun on his chest, causing him to nearly cave in from the hit. He crashed into the ground, as Asuna landed more smoothly. Nowhere near finished yet, the werebeast suddenly recovered, flipping onto his feet and giving a deafening roar. Hiding her fear so well as to appear completely undaunted, Asuna simply gripped her fan tightly and took a fighting stance.

Oh my. The orange orb of life spawned! And it lands on... Akira Ookouchi.

AND TEAM ASUNA CARRIES AWAY THE VICTORY! "Whoo hoo!" Asuna cheers, even adding completely unnecessary pelvic thrusts. "Better luck next 3-D game, chupacabra!"

"Man I _still_ hate you _so much_ right now," Sonic buried his face in one of his giant hands.

By now, the doors opened. As if they were actually the reason that he hadn't shown up, Negi and Nodoka descended slowly towards the group. "That's not nice, Sonic-san. Why are you doing this?"

Sonic stood straight and grew quiet. The strange silence proved to be far more disturbing than the werebeast's sneak attacks. "You see this, right?" He pointed to himself. "This is something borne of the darkness."

"The darkness?!" Asuna reeled back.

"Not the same darkness we're both fighting," Sonic said. "Back home, Egg jerk got inspired by Swan Boy and screwed up the earth by using this ultimate darkness. That same darkness corrupted me, as you see here. Because I'm not at home anymore, if I lose it here, I'll no longer be myself. And I can easily lose it if someone uses the right influence...

"...to put it simply, I'm being blackmailed."

* * *

Hey, hey guys! Remember back in episode three, where our favorite obscure character from a franchise that may never reach American shores got a task from everyone's favorite (read: most hated) Gary Stu in the universe? What exactly has she been up to?

After two episodes of her absence, she finally returns!

The demure owl girl touched base on the rooftop of the building, the hotel her adoptive big brother pointed out. _Those people are here, right?_ She thought. _I'll pass the message to them_.

That message being something given to her after the boy had returned and poured some research into the goings-on around this place. The endless hours of gazing at all of those screens eventually revealed a find that declared immediate action—one that the demented swan could not take. Rather, he sent Windia to report to the "good guys". She wasn't too sure about this, but apparently he assured her, "Obviously, things won't go so easily if they're like I think they are." He had said. "The resulting problems that will emerge will be right up your alley."

_I'll hold you to that, big brother_, Windia murmured silently, thinking back to all of his instructions. They seemed kinda complicated, but she wasn't stupid! Despite being a former-human-now-birdbrain surrounded by birdbrains, she was pretty confident that she could follow big brother's orders. "Keep your eyes peeled for an annoying blue hedgehog who's currently fighting off darkness in his heart. I made sure he wouldn't be an issue... for you, at least. And if you can... remember that girl you met during the whole dimensional catastrophe? If you can, kidnap her, and bring her here. You have that technique I taught you."

And that was all she needed to know. Windia took a deep breath, flapping her small wings. "**Come, my servants**." In moments, a fluttering of owls swarmed nearby, forming a circle of night birds around the girl. She smiled. "I take it all is going well outside. Anyway, while I wait for that child to get back, I guess I'll go kidnap that girl..." She forced her hands out. "**Thank you, my servants. Now go**."

The owls flew away, all except for one. A single owl perched on her shoulder. "You're staying here? Very well, I'm going in~" And with that, she opened a hatch on the roof and daintily hopped in.

* * *

"Geez, whoever this was did a number on this thing," Connor muttered, surveying the destroyed fuse box. And man, destroyed may have been an understatement. One massive claw had simply went through it like a knife through warm butter. No wonder there was no power. "This would take an entire replacement! Man, why didn't Deathsmiles teach me that undo spell?"

"I don't know, can you do such a spell?" He faintly registered a female voice.

"Of course I could! If I knew it, that is..." Connor answered.

"I've never seen you use magic, though," The voice continued.

"Eh, that's because," Connor finally wised up and turned to the source of the voice—one Konoka Konoe. Setsuna, of course, stood right by her. "Gah! Don't freak me out like that, Princess!" Connor considered himself lucky that it wasn't someone oblivious to magic sneaking up on him.

"Princess?" Konoka blinked.

"I tend to call people by nicknames. Much easier to remember," Connor simply explained.

"You should address ojou-sama properly," Setsuna said simply.

"Aw, Secchan, you're much too uptight," Konoka waved off her guardian's concern.

Connor shrugged. "So, we've got an issue. Chances are we won't have power for the rest of the night."

"I know that's bad," Setsuna added. "But can you give us a more specific reason?"

"Security's dead. And before you guys got out here I tried the other staff, and they ain't answerin'. We're on our own, now." Connor looked to the stars for a moment. "I'd hate to see the actual creature that pulled this crap." With that, he sighed. "Yeah, let's get back to the others. We'll need to stick together and make sure nothing goes wrong..."

Something caught his ears. Did he hear... wings? "The hell was that?"

Setsuna's senses sharpened as her lips pursed into a frown. "I don't detect anything malignant, but I get the feeling that we may be watched. Let's get to the others quickly."

"Okay!" Konoka let out a small titter. "Secchan, lead the way!"

* * *

"Totally spooky~" Kurumi murmured. She could discern a nod from Makie.

The night shadows definitely played with their eyes in this dark world. They had moved together to a kitchen area, under the belief that perhaps as long as they stuck together in groups, they wouldn't be cursed by horror movie clichés... but alas, things weren't that easy.

"Do you think we should just pull things from the cabinet instead?" Makie asked her partner. "Since we have no power and don't have a clue when it will come back, it might be a bad idea to open the fridge too often. The food might go bad!"

"Hmm... true," Kurumi rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

There was the tiniest noise... Kurumi's eyes caught the fridge opening. She froze in response.

"Kurumi-chan?" Makie ventured. Eventually, she too caught the fridge opening.

At once, they knew it. Something dark, something evil was emerging from that fridge. One beady eye appeared in the darkness, gazing at them with no apparent emotion. "Eep!" They both cried upon seeing fear itself. They hugged each other, shivering.

The door swung further open.

"It's room temperature, mya." The strange and seedy cat proclaimed, holding a single soda can.

While Kurumi was still shivering and scared out of her wits, Makie grew displeased. "That's cruel, Mother! How could you do such a trick?"

Kurumi just stopped, losing all color from her features. What was more frightening, the cat in the fridge or the fact that Makie claimed that it was her mother?!

"Gack!" The cat suddenly remembered Makie's insane claim from earlier. Or maybe it was something else, because it was still frozen in fear after a good minute.

Kurumi reverted from her 1920s color palette to pick up on this. "Huh? What are you afraid of?" Her voice, no longer fearful, was laced with concern.

The cat did not move or respond in any way.

Neither Kurumi nor Makie understood why until they heard the soft fluttering of wings. Both girls turned to a window, where they saw... an angel. A red-haired angel dressed in a white gothic lolita outfit, gazing at them with curiosity. A single owl was perched on her shoulder.

Neither party moved—this stalemate felt so surreal nobody dared interrupt and break the mood. Windia, however, finally stepped up and spoke, somehow keeping this surreal feel. "Hmm? Why are you guys so fond of the dark?" Is that a... British accent?

"Uhh..." Kurumi tried. She failed.

"Err..." Makie tried as well. She also failed.

"The power's out," Kurumi finally stopped failing. "It's not that we like having the power out..."

"Well, the dark is as good a place as any!" Windia shrugged. "I'm looking for someone here."

"Looking for someone?" Kurumi and Makie exchanged looks. "Who?"

"That's a secret," Windia winked. "But of course, the fact that you know that I'm looking for someone means you know too much already." She drew a blade. This shiny white thing with a gray hilt seemed to resemble a giant, serrated feather rather than a sword, albeit curved like one. "Well, three people can keep a secret, I guess..."

Kurumi and Makie let out sighs that they didn't even know they were holding.

"...if two of them are dead."

Makie and Kurumi paled. Before they could scream or fight back, let alone react, they saw Windia slice through them with speed they had only seen on Setsuna. The pure shock of being attacked may have killed them faster than the attack itself. Well, if they were actually dead, that is.

"Well, I guess I used the wrong attack after all," Windia observed their now thoroughly bound bodies hit the floor. The girl couldn't help but giggle at their panicked and muffled moans. "But at least that move works!" She looked at their bonds. "Geez, big brother sure has perverted ideas..."

"Mmmmph!" Kurumi shouted back, as if it were the most effective retort ever.

"You're really, cruel, you know that?" Windia sniffed as if her feelings were hurt. "I think I'll take my toys and play elsewhere!" She spun on the tip of one foot and floated away from them, her body fading from their sight as if she were a ghost.

* * *

In this world, the lights were still out.

Rei sighed and shook her head.

Currently, the Kashiwagi twins were busy fashioning clothes, using the lone flashlight between the three of them so they could see. "Ho ho... cooking up clothes for a slew of magical girls and boys is fun, isn't it?" Yuma asked to no one specifically.

Yuna, however, could tell the question was more to her. "I think so!" She beamed.

"God, I love how naïve and single-minded you two are," Rei laughed off their fun.

"Well, _excuse us_ for doing what we do best!" Yuma hotly retorted.

"Yeah!" Yuna added.

Rei merely yawned and dug out some annoying earwax while the sisters feverishly defended their hobby in the middle of a possible emergency situation. When she realized that they were finally finished, she simply smirked. "I'm not one to say throw away what you do best, but don't we have more pressing matters?"

The sisters stopped. "Like what?"

"Like..." Rei began, but alas, something caught her attention. A figure in white, hovering behind them, daintily stepped on the ground. This red-haired angel seemed to study the girls before her a bit. "...the person behind you, for instance."

"Tachibana-san, that's the oldest trick in the book!" Yuma laughed it off.

Yuma, however, did not. Not only did she notice the girl coming from behind her, she also noticed the girl had now pulled a white sword out, and was creeping ever closer... "Y-y-y-y-Yuma-chan—!"

Yuma heard her sister, and finally whirled around. There was a second of silence as three girls looked in the eyes of one.

Then in one smooth stroke, the girl in white darted forward, drawing her sword into a wide sweep. Yuma and Yuna Kashiwagi were no longer standing.

* * *

Rokugou always felt that in scary movies, it wasn't the dark that was scary—it was the silence.

Maybe the darkness not being scary had something to do with the man she met last month—even so, the girl could not take it easy within this dark and unsettling hotel. What happened to the others? She had only gone to the bathroom, making sure the others were nearby, and now here she was, alone. Certainly she'd become the next victim, especially since she could hear _nothing_!

The girl shivered.

Finally, noise reached her ears. Rokugou listened carefully—they sounded reminiscent of mewling, something or somebody was heavily muffled. The girl discerned that the noises were coming from the back kitchen area. She hoped to all sanity that this was not a trap.

She walked through the kitchen, the darkness making it hard, but not impossible, for her to see. The mewling was only getting slightly louder, but it was still enough proof that it was here. She was so concerned over looking around, however, that she nearly tripped over something. Only flinching backwards kept her up straight. Rokugou looked down to see what had nearly tripped her over.

It was Kurumi's body.

The girl nearly screamed in horror, only to see the body flail like a worm. Kurumi finally showed her face somehow, apparently thoroughly gagged. "MMMFFF!" The girl cried.

"Wh-what's going on here?!" Rokugou cried.

Makie too, crawled over, apparently a victim of the same force that had struck Kurumi. Unlike the other girl, though, Makie wasn't gagged so horribly, and managed to work off the infernal thing. "A person in white came through here! She's dangerous! Find the others and get out of here!"

"But, but—!" Rokugou didn't like this. Not in the least.

"Don't worry about us!" Makie said. "Just go!"

The blue-haired lass stepped back once before running off back into the darkness. Makie whimpered, though she perked up a bit as she saw Connor, Setsuna, and Konoka walk back in. Konoka immediately spotted the girls. "What happened here?"

Connor took the time to note that the door had suspiciously closed on them and changed design, much like one of those boss doors from those video games. "Damn I hate these doors..." He muttered.

"There was this girl in white, and she's got a sword, and Rokugou... Rokugou...!" Makie tried to explain, but her fear and emotions were too high. Kurumi was ignored since nobody spoke in muffled grunts.

"Ojou-sama," Setsuna said, pulling out her sword, Yuunagi. "Forgive me, but let me lead just a while longer." She sprinted into the darkness as well. Konoka hesitated, not sure if she should help Connor free these two or if she should run after her guardian.

Considering that this was Setsuna she was chasing, the final answer should be obvious.

* * *

Rokugou found three more bodies in another room, tightly bound just like Makie and Kurumi.

She couldn't make out the muffled groans of the Kashiwagi twins, but Rei was ungagged. "Rokugou, _run_!"

The warning was a shade too late, however. The girl had barely stepped back before some white shape fell from above, smashing into the ground spectacularly. Only Rokugou diving to the side saved her, and even then this wound up blocking any avenue of escape.

The attacking shape rose. It was in fact, the girl in white Makie mentioned earlier.

However, Rokugou's eyes widened. "Wait! I know you!"

Windia stopped. She turned, seeing her prey at last. "Huh... ah! It's you, the girl I was looking for! You were with big brother the last time, yes?" While not exactly in a fighting stance, Windia kept her sword out. "So would you come with me? Big brother wants to see you."

"He... he's back?" Rokugou blinked awash in some emotions she couldn't yet sort out.

"I KNEW IT!" Rei raged from her bound position on the floor. "This couldn't be the work of anyone other than Cygnus! Who else would have evil plans that consist entirely of _'kidnap Rokugou'_?!" There was a quick pause. "And gloating!"

"Well, I can't say I blame him. Making friends or even girlfriends is pretty hard with that aura of his," Windia shrugged off her accusation. "And the only reason I can be around him at all is because I'm used to an aura like that. I lived in it for years, you know."

"So maybe he should take socializing lessons instead of being a massive creepy jerk," Rei snarled. She rapidly switched to Rokugou. "Get out of here, Rokugou! Now's not the time to fall prey to Cygnus's tricks!"

"But..." The demure, blue-haired girl was at a mental impasse! See the man she loved or keep her friends away from a very unbalanced owl girl! Why oh why must life decisions be difficult?!

"Ignore the losing side, and come with me," Windia simply smirked. "I don't know the next time I might draw blood instead of ropes."

Rokugou frowned. She wanted to see him, but not like this...

However, someone decided that Rokugou's mental impasse was not worth suffering over, and sliced one path to ribbons. In a second, Windia felt a sword coming her way. She whirled to block, and her sword clashed against her assailant's.

She found herself staring at an angry Setsuna Sakurazaki.

"Cygnus's cowardice has reached a new low," The girl spoke evenly despite her outward anger. "I will not stand for his—or your—trickery."

"Ho ho," Windia pressed back and slid to safety, ending any potential stalemate. She rushed Setsuna, twirling her blade with grace and speed. Setsuna, in turn, steeled herself, blocking both slices, though nearly wincing from the loud clangs that resulted.

Setsuna stepped to the side, pulling a feint to trip up the winged girl before pushing an attack on the other side. Alas, that wasn't to be—Windia, with her speed, saw that coming a mile away and simply _floated backwards_, evading the attack. "You're fast, but..." Windia grinned. One moment, she was hovering above Setsuna. The next, she was right behind her. "I'm faster." Setsuna leapt back to dodge her incoming swipe, but that turned out to be exactly what she planned for. Instead of a missed swipe, Setsuna found herself dodging the business end of a nightmarish wind blast. Setsuna could only brace herself as the wind attack nicked her sleeves and arms.

Windia giggled and twirled again before slicing once more. Setsuna snarled and turned tail.

"Secchan?" Konoka appeared at the doorway of the room, only to see her guardian barrel towards her.

"Ojou-sama! RUN!" Setsuna commanded, though she defied this in the next second by scooping Konoka up and running as the blast of wind tore through the door and pieces of the stairs. Setsuna sailed into the air and landed down at the bottom. "Okay..." It seemed she remembered her useless command.

Windia flew down into the foyer, giving chase to the fleeing duo and leaving a thoroughly confused Rokugou behind. A lust for battle had already kicked in. "Don't bother running, you could actually put up a fight! I'll see this to the end," The owl youkai gripped her sword.

"Cygnus-han has followers? Outside of Rokugou-han?" Konoka blinked. "This can't be good."

"She reeks of war..." Setsuna hissed, affirming Konoka's worry.

Windia heard that one! In a petty retaliation, the girl sniffed the air. "And _you_ reek of crow youkai. You're hiding it quite well, too. I wonder if your friends know?"

"So what if I do?" Setsuna took this rather well, though her face grew hot. "And what if my friends know? My goal is to protect ojou-sama, regardless of what shame I hide..." She cast aside that embarrassment, and shed her human form.

Even aware and unafraid of this great power, Konoka stared in awe. White wings, far larger than Windia's, shot out of Setsuna's back. The girl's hair faded to white, and her eyes became red. Setsuna drew her sword and merely whispered in Windia's direction. "Stand down or die." And a second later, the crow had pressed hard against the owl's sword.

"Eep...!" Windia gasped. "Dammit!" She twirled and pushed back with her amazing speed, distancing herself from the other girl. Not even bothering with any banter, she slashed her sword, letting the wind tear towards her foe. Setsuna blocked this one, not even letting it near Konoka. The furniture in the foyer, on the other hand, was not so lucky. Tables and chairs flew, destroyed by the wreckage. Tornadoes would be hard pressed to replicate this damage! "I hate opening cans of worms! They're icky and ugly and the figurative ones always have power levels that exceed maximum!"

"Oh... oh GOD NO!" Connor's voice shot through the fight. "You didn't just kill my paycheck, did you!?" The man in question stormed in, having finally freed the other girls and somehow repairing the fuse box, though a majority of the hotel still hung in darkness. He looked once, saw the devastation Windia pulled with just one attack, and let his pupils shrink to devastated, microscopic size. Looking up as if a super villain had just killed his pet dog and opened the can of whoopass, he snarled and pointed at Windia. "My name is Connor Gavet. You _destroyed my paycheck_! Prepare to_**die**_!"

Connor extended both hands to his sides. Light and darkness gathered at both ends, twirling like a buzzsaw, until it solidified into chakrams, looking much like a spiked wheel or ninja shiruken. He focused magic below both his and Windia's feet, though Konoka and Setsuna were in range, too. All four disappeared from the room, reappearing at the roof.

Under the night sky, there was but a brief moment of silence as Windia tilted her head in confusion, and Setsuna still kept her sword ready, as if Connor wasn't being a jerk by interrupting her fight.

Connor was far too pissed for that. In a second he let one of his chakram fly right for Windia's neck, and she would have been decapitated had she not tilted out of harm's way. She didn't even have time to consider attacking him, as he had appeared _behind her_, catching the weapon and bringing it across to slash her. The girl brought her sword up and blocked the blow.

"Two against one? That's not even fair!" Windia yelled in mock-exasperation. Illuminated by the moon, she lifted one hand in the air. "**Come my servants**." Runes flashed from the air, and at once, from the surrounding woods, a whole flock of owls swarmed in, surrounding her. Despite their fierce wing flapping, they kept relatively still, their eyes locked onto Connor and Setsuna like some sort of spooky painting. "Entertain the twilit hothead."

_All_ of the owls suddenly focused on Connor. "Aw, this is complete _shi_—" All owls began gathering magic energy, and began rapid-firing bursts of wind at the man. "Argh!" He put his arms up in a defensive position, and tendrils of light and darkness rose from the roof, negating the wind as if it were hitting unmovable stone. "You've already wrecked the front room! I ain't lettin' you destroy any more! Haaauuuggghh!" He took both chakrams and whirled like a dancing fool, slicing up the aggressive owls and wrecking their magic.

Seeing Connor's faulty attack thwarted, Setsuna decided to resume her fight. "Ojou-sama, please assist Connor-san." Letting her wings flap once, the half-demon took to the air. Konoka simply sighed before running off to Connor, casting a reflect spell to guard him against a surprise owl attack.

Windia gave chase to Setsuna. She sliced hard, and a nigh powerful wave of wind tore towards Setsuna. However, the angel-like half-demon easily evaded, flying forward and curling into a midair attacking stance. "Zantetsuken!" One powerful slash knocked Windia backwards, and nearly out of the air. Only at the last second did she right herself.

"That... that hurt...!" Windia was quivering now. "I can't fool around anymore!" She sped up, her movements increasing to a dangerous white blur. She swerved and dove under Setsuna, turning halfway until she was aiming directly under the girl. "Heeeyah!" A near-white burst of energy crashed into Setsuna, knocking her out of her flight path.

It was enough to where Konoka nearly panicked at the sight. "Secchan!"

Konoka needn't worry—Setsuna righted herself in an instant, and in seconds, homed in on Windia, her powerful wings flapping.

The next moment, Windia saw, to her horror, that Setsuna had merely _sped up to match her_. The two girls clashed in a whirlwind of swords too fast to see. Try as she might, Windia could not break or parry any of Setsuna's attacks.

It was almost like... it was almost like... her first nightmare.

It got worse when Setsuna twirled and smashed her into the ground.

For the first time since that... incident, Windia felt true pain. And this foe before her, there was no desperation that matched hers at all. "You..." Windia muttered. "I c-can't..."

Death. It was all she could remember. Despite her... no, all of their valiant attacks against that tyrant... Lord Hades had a feast that night.

The crow murmured. "Now will you stand down?"

"No..." Windia hissed. "I _won't_. I can't fail big brother! _Not like I failed my friends._..!" This came out more of a whine, than anything.

"Friends...?" Konoka blinked.

"Bad guys have friends?" Connor blinked. "As in actual friends and no backstabbing?"

Windia shivered. Whether it was from rage, fear, or perhaps both, no one else on this roof could figure out. What they could figure out, however, was the fact she aimed one last attack. With a desperate cry to the heavens, Windia shouted, "**HELP ME**!"

The rooftop exploded.

Massive energy nearly engulfed Konoka, Setsuna, and Connor. Swarms of explosions rocked them, and Konoka's shields were barely holding up. "This is too strong! I can't hold this for much longer!"

Setsuna fortified herself. It would be unfortunate, but there was no choice. She focused herself, gripping her sword tightly. There was only one shot, and Konoka's barrier was getting weaker by the moment. "Hiken... Hyakkayouran!" With three clean swipes, she sliced right through Konoka's barrier and Windia's desperate blast attack.

The world stopped blowing up, the energy dissipating like an extinguished fire. Windia fell to her knees, thoroughly defeated. She said nothing, only shivering.

Wondering if she was up to anything else, the half-crow moved forward, ever so cautiously, to perhaps see what she might say now.

That stopped when she heard a familiar voice. "Setsuna-san!"

"Huh?" Setsuna turned to the sound of that voice. "Negi-sensei?" A sudden feeling of imminent trouble caused her to take a fighting stance again.

Windia too, tried to stand and fight, but that was a useless endeavor.

Some blue shape shot into the air from the ground below and landed right between them. The blue werebeast didn't waste any time and let out a mighty roar, startling and therefore stopping any bright ideas of warfare. "Enough!" Sonic bellowed.

Seconds later, Negi Springfield landed on the rooftop, Nodoka getting off of his staff with him.

"We know what's going on, there's no need for all this violence!" Negi said sternly. He looked towards Setsuna, Konoka, the near broken Windia, and a very angry Connor holding an ungodly amount of self control. "Konoka-san and Setsuna-san, please don't recklessly attack peopl—" For the first time, Negi noticed the girl's pale visage and white wings. And it sure didn't look like it was activated by any contract. "Setsuna-san?"

The girl finally regarded Negi. There was a bit of shock before her cold visage was replaced with shame. "I... I—"

"Setsuna-san... are you..." Negi began.

"Leave Secchan alone," Konoka's eyes were like steel.

"Ummm..." Nodoka began.

"But... but my paycheck!" Connor lamented.

There was a quiet cacophony of voices, as everyone voiced their confusion or discontent, including Asuna and Akira, who were dragging a very unconscious Himeko and a very groggy and angry Miyako. It got to the point where even Sonic was threatening to roar again.

But there was no loud voice that brought this to an end. No, it was a simple request.

"I'd like some tea," Windia said, bringing all eyes on her. While still somewhat broken and fully dazed from the crow-induced nightmare, she was coherent enough to know what would fix her up again, much like it did when she had first met Cygnus. After all, when Lord Hades had held his feast, so had Cygnus. But big brother's feast was better, because it had served tea... and Lord Hades.

So she insisted again, "I'd like some tea."

* * *

With light restored to the little Crystal Teardrop Hotel, everyone was busy trying to clean up the horrible mess left by the misunderstood owl girl and everyone's valiant attempt to bring her down. Most effort was spent cleaning up the wrecked foyer. Although, there seemed to be quite a bit of idle conversation. For example:

"I thought chupacabras didn't have stretchy arms?"

"For the millionth time, I am _not a chupacabra_!"

"But the spines..."

"_Hedgehog_ spines!"

"Aren't you a super elusive bloodsucker?"

"I had blood once. Tasted like crap. Cramps my style. Go bother Dracula or something."

"Hey chupacabra, when are you gonna get a good 3-D game? Misora keeps angsting about it."

"As soon as you grow a pair."

As you can see, idle conversation.

"You know, this is like one of those Gensokyo tales Maid Girl talks about," Connor observed at the small makeshift table. Connor, Windia, Konoka and Negi were all seated around the table, with each gender on opposite ends. Chamo was of course, just content on resting on Negi's head. Connor continued. "There's some incident caused by either someone well-intended but horribly misguided, or someone who misunderstands the situation. Then everybody gets into a violent fight and then they all break for tea. Isn't that similar to what's going on here?"

"I guess," Negi shrugged.

Connor waved this off. "Guess it's beyond ya, Wonderboy."

"I feel much better, now," Windia smiled after putting down her tea. "But in any case I came here on behalf of big brother."

"Big brother being Cygnus-han, I take it?" Konoka asked between sips of tea.

Somewhere in the room, Rokugou's ear twitched.

"Mm-hmm," Windia hummed her affirmative. "I believe you're here because a certain Rebecca Miyamoto is missing, yes?" She turned her eye to Negi.

"How do you know?" Negi asked, his full attention on the girl.

"He's been keeping tabs on everyone, of course," Windia answered. "But if you want a hint on where she's hiding, you should go back to school."

"School? Peach Moon?" Negi asked. "She's been under our noses the whole time?"

"Not even big brother can say for sure," Windia took to sipping her tea. "But he's eyed a signal that could only be produced by the child genius. Heavy amounts of alchemy were involved, I think."

Negi let that sink in. From what he remembered, Becky's armor card had powers heavily influenced by alchemy. The fact that she was able to do this without him activating her pactio... Maybe she was looking for a way to defend herself. "So Becky may not have needed my help..." He sighed sadly, but almost as if Asuna had threatened him, he quickly shook this off. "Even so, I'd like to see that she's safe."

"Alchemy, huh?" Connor rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Deathsmiles mentioned that there was once a great alchemist that ran about twenty years ago...

"Sounds interesting," Konoka nodded.

"Big brother's getting pretty impatient with you, you know," She turned her eye to Negi. "You should hurry up and deal with this Star Crystal business. He can't freely wander around here as long as that other darkness keeps running away from him."

"So that legendary swan boy is using you to dick around in his place? Why am I not surprised..." Connor muttered.

"Cygnus-han should fight his own battles," Konoka nodded in agreement. "Even if there was no Star Crystal case to worry about, he should leave everyone alone."

"I don't think everyone is of your concern, princess," Windia sneered. "You're just clingy to your half-crow."

"Leave Secchan out of this," While Konoka still had a smile, her voice had a dangerous edge to it.

"Ooh, I hit a soft spot~" Windia taunted.

Konoka didn't take any more bait, but Negi cut to the chase before she could consider. "Why is Cygnus-san so interested in me solving that case?"

"Because his appearance will stall the case, and if that keeps happening, the Student Mage Council and every mage within a 200 mile radius will swoop in to make his life miserable," Connor answered in one smooth stroke. "We'd rather not deal with the old guy's BS, but if it comes to that..." He noticed Negi and Konoka's surprised stares. "What?"

"You spilled the beans that fast? You're sad." Someone said.

"Hey wait—!" Connor started, but as soon as he turned around, he saw that his compatriots had all gathered and surrounded the table. "Aw man, I knew my paycheck was ruined!"

Howell was the person who spoke earlier. He continued, "You should probably keep it down, Ts—err I mean Ichijou is still sleeping."

"Augh, I'm tired." Behoimi sighed.

Negi stared, incredulously, at the entire staff of the hotel... no. "So... you're the Student Mage Council."

"Completely correct," Albiero said. "We've been sent to lend a hand on the Star Crystal case, but since you're such a popular and important man, we decided to watch you instead," He beamed, although Negi was certain he couldn't trust that smile one bit. "Don't mind us at all, we only want to see you solve the case."

"Don't bother trying to run," Serizawa, in the guise of that boxy robot, said. "We have eyes _everywhere_.... heeheeheeheehee..."

"Well, we have clean-up duty (which is getting docked out of Connor's pay despite him passing our hidden test and being awesome), so tell your class to relax!" Jack Rakan said (to which Connor let out a scream of anguish). "Maid guy mode TRANSFO—" Albeiro shut down Rakan's manservice with a gravity attack, preventing the universe from having its eyes bleed from the awesome.

"Traumatize everyone else when I'm not looking, 'kay thanks," Al reminded the big oaf in a singsong voice.

Windia hovered out of her seat. "It was nice having tea and fighting everyone, but I have to go." Her wings fluttered. "Blue hedgehog, let's go!"

"What?!" Sonic growled. "Since when was I _your_ bodyguard?!"

"Since now, guv'na~" Windia giggled. "You forget who we both work for."

"Geh," Sonic leapt over the crowd, landing next to Windia.

The owl girl began to float off, before someone called her attention. "H-hold it."

Windia turned a curious eye to the blue-haired girl in the room. Rokugou continued to speak. "So I know he's truly here. I want to go see him..." This drew some sharp gasps, none of which were from surprise so much as they were from tension. "...but if he wants to see me, tell him to kidnap me himself!" The girl was shaking by now. Everyone sighed with relief, though a few who picked up on another meaning of Rokugou's nervousness did a spit-take.

Windia giggled. "Don't overexcite yourself, girlie. I'll tell him~"

"Tell him this, too!" Konoka suddenly interjected, her face serious. "If he starts trouble, no matter what's happening, I'll kick his butt any day of the week!"

"We'll see if you live up to that," Windia smoothly countered before slowly hovering out of an open window. Sonic gave a serious but apologetic stare at Negi before leaping off into the night after her.

The nightmare was over.

Without even speaking a word, everyone resumed whatever activities they were doing before the lights went out, albeit with hushed whispers of the trials to come. Negi of course, had his mind spinning on the things he learned—his new audience, Cygnus's return, Setsuna's half-demonhood, but most of all, a solid lead on Becky's location.

Tomorrow, the mystery would continue.

* * *

"There appears to be no omake again." One of the aliens pointed out.

"What a joke," The captain muttered. "And here I was looking forward to hearing more about Ichijou and that... one man."

"Captain, has that development hit a sore spot with you?" Another alien piped up. "Remember that we were forbidden contact with humans, and yet you once went against that."

"The rules have changed," The Captain murmured. "She knew about us since the beginning. And she was so lovely, so lonely..." He hugged himself and spun in a strangely stupid yet angsty fashion.

"Try as you might, you can't deny that your captain is right," Cygnus muttered, his teeth clenched on an unlit cigar. "That girl is mighty unusual, and the fact that your dear old Captain is still lovestruck tells me she's got a back-story worth seein'. So we'll have to tune in next time. Until then, we wait for the pieces to move into place so _we_ can finally party!" Cygnus crowed. "Allllllllrighty then! Tune in next time for an episode by Yuzuyo Kurusu, or as that clown Connor calls her, Gojikko. What's the title of her next episode?"

One of the aliens dug around in a database somewhere before finally pulling out—a piece of paper. "Got it! Says 'Who Finds Love in a Nation of Fools?' I heard some really creepy circus goes by that name."

"Whatever," Cygnus waved this off. "So got it? Good. Come back for episode seven. You don't want me to drown you in _darkness_, do you?" An anvil struck Cygnus, as a gentle reminder to not threaten the audience. "Goddammit!"

(Welcome to the first chapter of Nightmare!? in the new year! With a word count of OVER 7000 and a pacing issue that's finally being resolved, hopefully you can finally enjoy this one! For the more curious of you, be sure to go check me author's notes on my page link. See ya next time!)


	8. Who Finds Love in a Nation of Fools?

**Nightmare?!**

**Episode 7: "Who Finds Love in a Nation of Fools?" by Yuzuko**

"So Negi."

"Yes, Asuna-san?"

"It's Sunday, right?"

"Yes it is."

"So maybe you can explain to me why are we STANDING IN FRONT OF A SCHOOL?!" Asuna roared at the front steps of Peach Moon. With last night's chaos finally over, the team could get some rest. Upon finishing said rest, though, Negi and his crew made a beeline for the school. While Asuna's rage to the heavens was loud, the other people around her weren't surprised in the least.

"Asuna's never been a fan of school," Konoka happily pointed out, though this was stating the obvious to 3-A. Most of the cast of 1-C had other arrangements to deal with, but swore up and down that they'd help look for Becky as soon as they were done.

"Well, Becky might be here!" Negi explained as if it were the most obvious answer in the universe, as decreed by Captain Obvious himself.

"That's all well and good, but if you even THINK of trying to teach class right now, I'm going to _pummel you a new one_," Asuna leered hard at the boy. "Got me?"

"Yes ma'am!" Negi nodded vigorously, wanting to avoid a beating and find Becky as soon as possible. They walked briskly through the gates.

"By the way, Negi-sensei..." Nodoka piped up. "The Kashiwagi twins mentioned that something was going on here despite there not being school today. Please be careful."

"What kind of thing?" Akira asked.

"Eh? Look!" Makie pointed towards the entrance of the school.

Standing on guard was a massive creature, a muscular green reptile with mechanical claws and twin drill tails. Somehow, yellow eyes stared from the mouth of the offending creature. Had Peach Moon mutated overnight?!

Turns out that fierce monster wasn't a threat—the mouth lifted open, and a girl's face appeared! "Eh? Are you Negi Springfield-sensei?" The girl asked.

Negi blinked. What was this, again? "Yes...?"

Nodoka peered closer, and recognition set in like a lit fuse. "Wait, aren't you...?"

"Negi-sensei, please help!" Yuzuko Kurusu pleaded from the mouth of that strange creature.

"W-what?!" Negi reeled back, completely not expecting the girl to either be still willingly be eaten by the monster in front of them or knowing his name.

"I know we haven't spoken much, but you're the only staff here right now!" The girl pleaded. "Please lend us a hand!"

"What? You and the monster that's eating you?" Asuna pointed out, completely flummoxed.

"No, no! This is a costume!" Kurusu quickly amended their misunderstanding of the situation, ruining the fun of the audience. She lifted the jaw and stood straight, revealing the costume aspect in full. "I'm a member of the Movie Club!"

"So what's going on here, then?" Akira asked.

"To put it shortly, the Drama Club and Movie Club are at war."

"At war?!" Negi and friends exclaimed in shock.

"Well, it's kinda sorta an exaggeration, but..." Kurusu dropped her voice, as if she were telling a legendary rumor. "You guys haven't been here for very long, but we the Movie Club and the Drama Club have always been bitterly fighting one another. At one time it was said that only one or the other could exist, so we've been fighting for supremacy... but the faculty were so amused that they kept both clubs around. It's been even... up until now."

Negi and his harem leaned in closer, gulping loudly.

"The Drama Club got new recruits—and they're all freakishly good!" Kurusu's voice wavered with fear. "They recruited the maid girl, Behoimi-chan and a huge muscle-bound freak and a guy with an untrustworthy smile! I can't compete with Roboko at this rate..."

Negi paused. He _knew_ those people. The Student Mage Council had introduced themselves to Negi just the previous night, and seeing as they heard of his desire to find Becky, they may have moved in the find her first—and not knowing of their motives, he couldn't allow that. Still... "As a new faculty member, I can't take sides with this... war you speak of," Negi answered solemnly. Although it broke his little heart to see Kurusu's dejected face, he had to lay that groundwork first. BUT. "However, due to some... untrustworthy students you speak of, this merits investigation. I will help you look into this."

"Really?!" The girl lit up like a bright idea. "Thank you!"

"This looks suspicious..." Asuna deadpanned.

"Not much of a choice but to roll with it for now," Makie cheered. "Let's go forward!"

"In return, please help me out!" Negi counter-pleaded. "I'm looking for someone in the school, and those obviously suspicious people you mentioned might be chasing after her first!"

"I dunno how easy it will be or how useful I am, but I'll help!" Kurusu bowed rapidly towards the little boy. "Please count on me!"

"If those suspicious people you're talking about are the people who I think they are, count me in, too!" Asuna suddenly declared, netting a bit of surprise on Negi's end. "I still have a hell of a lot of questions for them."

There were nods of agreement.

"We'll begin the search, too. Keep your eyes peeled, Negi-sensei and Kurusu-san," Setsuna advised, crouching into a near aggressive fighting stance. "Darkness lurks in many forms."

Darkness lurked in many forms, alright, and it might be even closer than they thought.

* * *

"So what happens next, Kurusu-san?" Negi asked the girl in the Godzilla suit.

"We have to find Roboko, first!" The girl said, regarding Negi with kind eyes. "My classmates in Movie Club said that she's up to something downstairs..."

"Isn't that wording a bit screwed up?" Asuna questioned (to which Konoka added "Ten points!").

"Downstairs?" Negi blinked. "I haven't been around this school for too long, what's downstairs?"

"Our great movie set!" Kurusu was bubbling with happiness. "The drama club uses a lot of props, but the soundstage downstairs will allow us to make the settings more authentic!"

"Ooh!" The 3-A girls marveled.

"Sounds very nice," Negi agreed, some child-like wonder sneaking into his reserved speech. "So what play are you trying to make?"

Kurusu stopped and faced the group "The perfect appeal to the masked man—Phantom of the Opera!"

"Phantom of the Opera?!" Asuna's eyes twinkled as if Christmas came early and dragged her birthday along for the ride. "The older guy in the movie was so coool!" Figures she only notices the actors' looks.

The dramatic reveal was lost on Negi, though—he noticed something else. "Huh? Masked man? Who are you talking about?"

"He was a strange man in a white tuxedo and beautiful hair, and had a top hat," Kurusu answered. "He wondered if the play or the movie was the better medium, so our club moved in to prove him that we were the answer..."

"Eh? That definitely sounds like..." Asuna began.

"...the Black Rose Baron!" Negi and the rest of 3-A finished.

"Black Rose... who?" Kurusu blinked.

"This man's been evading us and acting mysterious a lot..." Konoka answered. "Did he seriously challenge you guys to fight each other?"

"No... it just kinda escalated into a competition to see who'd get his attention in the end..."

With that answered, Asuna went back into ZOMG DREAMY ACTORZ mode. "That older guy that played him in that movie had a dreamy outfit and was sooo cool! Are you trying to entice that Black Rose Baron into the lead?"

"I think Negi-kun would be a better lead!" Makie declared, completely not getting the character at all.

"What? No way!"

"Umm, girls?" Negi tried, but to no avail.

"Maybe..." It was here that Kurusu started to lose her usual happy energy. "But I thought the Baron might want _us_ to prove that we can act..."

"Kekeke, perhaps the reason is _you can't_," There was a mighty boasting. All eyes fell to the sudden shadows above them. Kurusu snarled and flipped on her suit, showing full Godzilla-ripoff mode.

There, in her boxy pink outfit, stood the almighty Roboko... all seven of them.

"Eeh?! There's way too many!" The Movie Club girl panicked.

"Those robots look weak compared to Dr. Eggman's," Akira noted calmly.

"Oh ho ho ho! I perfected shadow clones, Gojikko! You won't stop me now!" The great boxy robot gloated. "Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it... ummm... seven times that amount!" Another Roboko clone added.

"Oh no! I'm not listening to you clone yourself and recite poetry, robo-ninja!" Asuna jabbed a finger in the robot's direction. "You're gonna give me answers about who I am! Like right _now_."

"Asuna!" Konoka hissed, weary of any slip of the tongue about magic to Kurusu's ears.

"Eep!" One of them flinched from Asuna's deadly leer. "I'll be running for now, but you can't catch me! C'mon, you won't do it!" With that, the Roboko sent her six clones in all directions, and she dashed off right back where she came.

_Wait a minute,_ Negi thought. _This could be a trap... Six clones plus Roboko—she's trying to waste our time! But Asuna-san—wait, I got it._ Negi suddenly spoke up. "She's trying to trick us, those clones are fake! Kurusu-san, we'll head after the real one! Asuna-san, pick one and go after it!"

"What?!" Asuna's head was spinning from this. "What's the point?!"

"If you get one of them alone, you can finally ask your questions," Negi smiled reassuringly.

"Oh, right!" Asuna got ready to dart after one of them.

"C'mon, Secchan! We can't let them get away!" Konoka rallied, pumping her fist before running after one of the escaped "robots".

"Everyone, stop as many as you can!" Negi said as he and Kurusu dashed down a hallway.

"Okay!" Our heroes split apart, chasing the robots in hope of springing the mysterious trap prematurely...

* * *

The noon sun failed to pierce through the school hallways—the shades were so strong that the sun looked more like moonlight here. Konoka was reminded heavily of a serenade ball. So why was it so dark here...?

"Ojou-sama, is it wise to walk down here?" Setsuna murmured to her charge. Makie followed them, apparently bummed that she already lost her target. "There doesn't seem to be much going on in this area other than some suspicious shading..."

"Now that you mention it..." Konoka tapped a finger to her lip, as if she were in deep though. "I see no sign of that boxy weirdo, just some shades... And isn't it too quiet around here?"

"Ah!" Makie interjected. "I think you're right!" The rusted but still functional cogs in Baka Pink's brain began to turn—perhaps a bit late compared to the yuri pair's well-oiled machine, but still! Shouldn't there be more sounds of bickering students and fighting than this? All she's hearing are a few voices down the hall and someone... hanging up blinds?

The three of them found a girl that was in fact, putting up blinds and making the place just a bit darker. Setsuna and Makie thought she looked kinda familiar, but they weren't very bright and decided her identity was unimportant.

Konoka, however, was at least smart enough to ask what she was doing. "Why are you making this place so dark?"

"Eh?" The girl blinked. "Oh, actually the camera guys were having difficulty with their dark room, so they asked me to shade this place down. Besides, this dark mood fits the theme of this hopeless war, does it not?"

"What do you mean?" Setsuna couldn't quite grasp the the girl's waxing poetic about the situation. "Isn't war always hopeless?"

"Ah, no wonder this place is so dark! She must be the Pungeon Master!" Makie exclaimed (to which Setsuna immediately countered with "Four points!").

"Not quite," The girl nervously giggled. "There was a masked man who decreed that there were several movies that were also plays." The other three girls exchanged looks, remembering the Black Rose Baron. "Upon seeing him, both the drama club and the movie club wondered which one had the superior adaptations, seeking approval of this strange man. But he refused to take sides," She slowly turned to the girls and gazed at them. The stare was so intense Makie even instinctively covered herself. "He listed both their strengths and weaknesses, thus prompting both sides to launch into a fierce competition over the same play—they who do it best can freely rule the fate of the other club. It's truly poetic, isn't it?"

"Umm..." Makie wanted to understand, but as the official Baka Pink she wasn't allowed to!

"Hey, you should cut back on the insults to Makie-san, please," Konoka waved her hand, as if shooing off some insect. Well excuuuuuse _me, _princess.

Setsuna stayed quiet, though she kept a hand to her heart. Why was that girl's stare so... chilling?

"So tragic. Perhaps you'll be interested in taking a side, or at least watching its beauty," The girl focused her gaze onto Konoka, moving close. "I know I would."

"Quaint," Setsuna snapped back to her senses upon seeing a threat to Konoka. Her voice dropped to icy levels as she continued. "But we'll have to take our leave for now. _Thanks_," And with that, she grabbed Konoka's hand and stalked off, with Makie skittishly following behind.

The lonely girl sighed again. "Did I step into someone's else's _territory_? Shame, they were so pretty... But I guess that means _Negi-kun_ is here, yes?" She gently ran fingers through her hair.

* * *

"Blue hedgehog, slow down!" Windia cried petulantly, flapping her tiny wings and flying as fast as she could.

"Screw you, I can do whatever I want!" Sonic boasted. The hedgehog continued to stealthily speed along the hallways, dodging people before they even got a chance to recognize that he was there. Monitoring Negi and pals for the sake of a villain wasn't his idea of fun, and no matter what kind of blackmail that swan dude had, there was no way he'd be doing someone else's bidding! Especially since last night, where he was at the business end of Negi's angry partners, including that Chupacabra hunting girl.

"You're misunderstanding again, aren't you?!" Windia insisted. "Big brother's not asking you to go fight that boy!"

"What's there to misunderstand? Super villain wants me to make life miserable for the only dude on the planet who treats me with respect! At least Egghead wasn't this lazy and jerk-like!"

"You _are_ misunderstanding! I'm gonna tell big brother than you're a bigger jerk than he is!"

"What can I say, I aim to please!"

Suddenly, a thought occurred to the owl girl. "So if you're not interested in doing big brother's bidding, why are you here in the first place?"

"Easy enough, I'm looking for something else for Swan Dark and Evil to mess with!" Sonic finally skidded to a stop, finally allowing the girl to catch up. "I don't have much of a choice in the matter, after all. You said it yourself, I don't need to fight them, I just need to keep them out of dork boy's hair, and vice versa!"

"So you were intentionally being thick?!"

Sonic yawned. "And the last horse finally crosses the finish line..."

"Hmph!" Windia simply harrumphed and decided that hedgehog bait tasted like crap.

The blue hedgehog started jogging again. "Basically just a bunch of people doing what they normally do... I don't see anything out of the ordinary."

"Of course you don't," A voice stopped Sonic in his tracks, and both he and Windia dodged as a shape skidded past them, sliding into a stop opposite of the pair. A flip of a cape revealed a mysterious person in a white tuxedo and top hat. "The darkness has not yet awakened!"

Sonic blinked. "Who are you again?"

"Afternoon with green tea, hailing from a foggy country... Love and Bravery's Ambassador of friendship," Black petals from Chaos-knows-where streamed down nearby this shady person. "They call me the Black Rose Baron!"

"Oh, oh right, pretty boy villain," Sonic waved off the introduction. "What do you want?"

"Have you seen Miyamoto, chupacabra?" The Baron asked.

"I'm _Sonic_, I'm a _hedgehog_." Sonic shot back, annoyed. "And no, I haven't!"

The Baron suddenly pulled out a picture of a chupacabra. "This is a chupacabra."

"..." Both Sonic and Windia stared mutely.

"This is a hedgehog," The baron shuffled the picture, showing an ordinary hedgehog in place of the chupacabra.

"I see the difference..." Sonic stated, though he likely wasn't paying attention at all.

"And this is you." The wily baron showed off a picture of Sonic—as envisioned by a five-year-old horror artist. Sonic looked awfully like a chupacabra... "See the resemblance?"

Windia laughed hard.

"THAT PICTURE IS AWFUL!" Sonic shouted back incredulously.

"I'll use a better picture if you get a good 3-D game," The Baron countered wittily.

Sonic smacked himself as the Baron skipped away, chuckling heartily like a reverse trap Santa Claus. "I've been trolled so hard since I got here."

"And you're taking it out on me?" Windia said between fits of laughter. "Serves you right!"

"Enough of that," Sonic suddenly spoke up. Windia noticed Sonic's eyes flicker to the right. Following his line of sight, the owl girl noticed someone in a boxy robot suit sprint full speed down the hallway. A grin crossed his face. "I think we have our first lead."

Windia righted herself, floating in the air. "What about that baron?"

Sonic started his maximum sprint again. "Screw him, he's just as lost as we are!"

That hedgehog was likely wrong, but we won't spoil that for him now will we?

* * *

Not for the first time in her life, Nodoka Miyazaki tripped.

However, in a epic first-time-ever screw up, she tripped onto another girl. Who had also tripped.

"Ouch..." The demure librarian was the first to recover. She turned to her sad compatriot in losing a foothold, but all she saw in her head area was a small mat of red hair, barely reaching her ears. "Are you okay?"

"Uguu..." The girl's whiny voice sifted through despite still being face down. "I'm still way too clumsy." Nodoka grabbed her hand and helped her up. The girl turned a grateful smile. "Thank you. I'm normally this clumsy, but if its hitting someone else, then maybe this school really is getting weirder..."

"I haven't even been here for a whole week yet, and I noticed that too!" Nodoka said.

"Ever since that new transfer student showed up in Becky-sensei's class..."

"Transfer student?" Nodoka and the girl began a leisurely walk.

"Yes. Watanuki says she might know about these strange events going on in the school," The girl continued. For no reason at all, Nodoka tripped again. "...including my clumsiness being contagious..."

"Aiyah..." Nodoka sighed.

From out of the blue, a Roboko appeared! Dashing at maddening speed past the girls, the Roboko laughed manically as a dude masquerading as a robot with no emotional range could—that is to say not very well at all. "Home free." The girls heard.

Then the robot tripped on Chaos-knows-what and crashed magnificently into the ground.

Taking a brief moment to recover, the robot's face compartment swung open, only to reveal a certain Connor Gavet. With far more emotion than a robot should have, Robo-Connor raged hard. "SAKURAAAAIIIIIIIIII!"

* * *

A colossus of a city stood down here—it was no wonder that Negi actually had to stop and marvel at its beauty for a moment.

"Whoa..." Negi took in the sight of it—buildings, despite being made of plastic and cardboard, towered over him like real skyscrapers, and painted with realistic colors to match. It was beautiful, to be honest with you. His eyes sparkled like the teeth in a toothpaste commercial.

Kurusu walked beside him. "Great, isn't it? The Movie Club put a lot of effort into it... I'm not going to screw it up this time." She turned to him, seeing his eyes were still sparkling. "Negi-sensei?"

"So cool..." Negi breathed.

Kurusu sighed. "Negi-sensei... well, this is the first time I've seen you act your age." Woman, that's the first time in this story ANYONE'S seen him act his age! Be more impressed! "Eh?" Well, sorry. Anyway, Kurusu suddenly noticed the door close behind her. She whirled around to try and open it up again, but found that not only would it not budge, it had also changed into a blue color and had these strange tendrils all around it!

That can't be good, especially since Negi didn't notice.

Kurusu sighed and decided to ignore it for now. Her destiny to bring down the great Roboko and save the Movie Club from extinction was _here_... no doubt about it. She turned back around to see that Negi was walking further in. "Wait, Negi-sensei!"

Negi stopped, but not just from Kurusu's voice. Somebody caught his eye.

Kurusu followed the boy's curious eyes to see... "Roboko! The real one!"

The girl in the boxy robot suit turned to see them. "Ah, crap! Earlier than I expected!"

"She's _fixing the buildings_, the fiend!" The girl in the Godzilla suit cried.

"Um, are we sure that's a bad thing?" Negi asked sheepishly.

"Enough of this! We settle this now, Gojikko!" Roboko crowed, pointing a clawed hand in Kurusu's direction.

"Fine..." Kurusu growled, also assuming a fighting stance as best as she could in the thick suit.

Negi looked worriedly between the two fighters. "Isn't there some sort of misunderstanding going on here?!"

"No, there isn't!" Roboko crowed. "I am only defending this sacred land from the likes of the Movie Club, and you meddling kids! And this time, I'm _getting away with it_."

"I'm defending this great movie set from the likes of the Drama Club and their nefarious schemes!" Kurusu bellowed in response. "I won't let you do as you please!"

"Isn't this the textbook definition of misunderstanding?!" Negi cried in frustration, but to no avail. Humanity's urge to fight exceeds all logic... hatred included!

Ignoring Negi's frustration, the boxy robot pulled out the first attack, sending a robotic claw towards Kurusu. The Godzilla encased girl dodged swiftly, whirling her tail to counterattack. The boxy robot blocked the move with her right arm, and both parties locked arms, growling like the silly people in monster suits they were.

Negi wasn't enjoying this at all. "C'mon girls! Please stop!" But of course, this fell on deaf ears as Roboko charged in for a shoulder tackle, and Gojikko pushed forward to counter this.

Feeling this was going nowhere, Negi decided enough was enough. He sprinted towards the warring duo, jumped up high, and with tremendous force, slammed between them. "_Stop this at once_!" So shocked at Negi's easy reversal to his adult-like behavior, the girls had to stop _mid-Falcon-Punch_ to prevent making him a casualty.

Satisfied that the violence had ended, Negi opened his eyes and glared at each of them. "Kurusu-san, I thought your highest priority was to defend this place, was it not?"

"Kurusu-san?!" Roboko flinched. The figurative "plot-twist" smashed her like an angry delinquent. "No way..."

"And you..." Negi turned his head over to the girl in the robot suit. "Roboko... you're Akane Serizawa, aren't you? The last member of the SMC? I thought you guys were supposed to be model students! Why are you using such underhanded tactics to keep an eye on others?"

"Serizawa-san...?" The girl in the Godzilla suit stepped back, as if struck. "You mean we..."

"All this time..." Serizawa whispered.

Apparently, this was something not even Negi was expecting. "Wait... you two know each other?"

"We were..." Kurusu began.

"...friends..." Serizawa finished.

Negi started, "But isn't that all the more reason for you two—!"

Evil... he felt it.

That billowing darkness that followed him, summoned by the fairies that chased after him and decided to bring him ruin and misery... it was coming! And quite obviously pissed at the poor showing of robot versus monster, judging by the fact that it was heading straight for the girls instead of Negi.

"Girls, watch out!" Negi shouted. Serizawa was quick to evade, she easily cleared half the room with just one leap.

Kurusu, on the other hand, was not so lucky.

"Kurusu?!" Serizawa screamed in alarm.

She didn't even see the darkness until it was too late. The obsidian glob shot directly into her back and invaded her heart. The swirling evil energies began to expand the girls body size ever so slightly. By the time the evil deed was done, the vicious Godzilla suit was far more lively than Negi had ever seen it.

Not good.

Twisted by hatred, a fierce monster leered down at Negi. "**Such powerful hunger... I will devour... you here... Negi Springfield!**" With that, the nightmarish Gojikko did what any intimidating monster would do: pull out and put on a bib, followed by a handy fork and knife set! Oh, and then she roared.

Serizawa did not react. She was in shock.

"Oh no..." Negi brought his staff to the front. "She's been possessed, and none of my partners or Chamo are here..." The monster thought faster than he did and smashed a claw down in his direction, forcing him to move back. "I can do this... I can protect my students!"

But can you protect yourself? I imagine that's what our possessed Gojikko would say, as the creature easily sliced down a building before hurling it in Negi's direction. Negi mounted his staff and dodged swiftly. The creature twisted slightly and let its twin tails shoot towards Negi like a scorpion's sting. One missed, another one missed, the first one missed again...

One struck home, nailing Negi right in his chest.

Negi helplessly twirled in the air before crashing down to the earth, landing with pained scream. He dug his fingers in the ground to try and recover quickly, but bleeding in the chest area kinda makes that difficult... "This..."

Gojikko stomped closer.

"I... _can't_...!"

Gojikko prepared her claws for Negi-shish-kabob.

"Negi Springfield-sensei..." A quiet voice cut through the tension. At the same time, several shirukens stung Gojikko's arms. The monster stopper her assault to wail from the pain.

Akane Serizawa landed next to the fallen under-aged hero. The flap on her mask was open, showing her face. "I'm sorry for blanking out earlier... don't overdo it for my sake."

"Serizawa-san?" Negi blinked.

The girl closed the hatch. "I'm about to _redefine_ ninja robots. Stand back, sensei!" She pumped herself into a fighting stance.

"Are you serious?!" Negi exclaimed.

Serizawa ignored this and faced her rival-slash-friend. "I'm sorry, Kurusu-chan. All this time we've been fighting unknowingly, I've held back, see." Behind that boxy mask, there was a sad smile. "Now that you're like this, I've got no choice anymore. I'll show you my true talent... for what may be the only time..."

Gojikko only growled.

"Why are you speaking like she can't be turned back?" Negi shouted in concern, but he was once again ignored.

"I'll end this!" She swept a hand forward, and several shirukens once again found themselves embedded within the nightmare creature. Gojikko ignored the pain this time and simply opened her jaws wide, snapping brutally at... wait, thin air?

A second later, a hard knee crashed into Gojikko's neck.

The corrupted monster girl tumbled to the ground. Serizawa was in full Roboko mode. "Piko-piko laser..." The single green eye visible on the robot suddenly glowed red, and an incredibly quick laser sliced the ground. Only a quick barrel roll to the side kept the monster from being burned or sliced in two.

Gojikko bellowed again before slamming the ground furiously and repeatedly. Roboko nearly lost her balance and even the non-participant Negi had to take to the air. When the girl in the robot suit took Negi's example to the ninja extreme by hopping on the buildings, Gojikko began swatting them down. Snarling, she aimed claws and knocked them over like bowling pins, trying to smash both Roboko and Negi.

The boy simply hung back, still too weak to really accomplish anything. "Serizawa-san..."

"Kurusu-chan! Do you hear me?!" Serizawa suddenly shouted as she leapt from an airborne model building and smashed her feet into Gojikko's head. "I know you're in there!"

The monster responded with more enraged roaring, its twin tails jabbing at the more nimble girl. After several strikes, one managed to pierce Roboko's side, sending a chunk of cardboard (or was it machinery?) and a bit of blood hurtling to the side. After the successful hit, it tried to draw in its tail back, but it couldn't.

Serizawa had it in a death grip.

"Kurusu-chan! Don't let this consume you!" Serizawa was now wailing her sentences... it was starting to get painful even for Negi, who was still some distance away. The monster apparently didn't like this either, it roared hard and began trying to smash Serizawa down with its free tail.

Braving every brutal blow, Serizawa held on.

"_Dammit_..." Negi cursed silently. "If only...!"

"Kuru—no, _Yuzuko_!" Serizawa cried to the heavens.

Gojikko stopped.

The Godzilla-esque horror stumbled back as Serizawa fell to the floor, roaring in confusion and pain. Those eyes with its mouth—no, Kurusu's eyes began to water, shedding tears. With it, the darkness began to lose its grip on her.

The darkness wasn't over just yet! With its last bit of strength Gojikko aimed its right hand to deliver the finishing blow—and the girl in the robot suit was too weak to do anything about it.

But Kurusu said no.

The creature's hand shot down—but not at Serizawa. Instead, Gojikko pierced her own chest.

Negi and Serizawa gaped in open-mouthed shock as Kurusu proceeded to manually remove the darkness from her own chest, hand shaking with pain, or perhaps fear. Lifting it as if she had pulled out her own heart, she could only manage a very weak "...help... me..."

Negi Springfield knew it was _time_.

Bringing up his staff, he gripped it tightly while gathering his magic strength. "Yuzuko Kurusu... I will free you from your hatred." He bolted forward. "Ras tel ma scir magister... **Weighted light, drag out this darkness! Answer my plea and return this soul to its normal form!**" He reared a hand back as he approached the gob of darkness pulsating in Gojikko's hand. "TEL MA... AMORISTA!" With a punch that would've made Rakan himself proud, Negi pounded right into that darkness, blowing it away. The darkness ceased to exist, but some faint speck twirled dizzily into the air before dropping down into the floor and disappearing.

Gojikko began to crack, slowly but surely. When the cracks covered her entire body, the monster shattered, leaving only Kurusu behind. The girl slumped to the ground, landing right next to Serizawa.

Negi noted the strange orange orb forming again, this time landing on top of Serizawa. It washed away her fatigue, though the girl did not visibly recover.

That was when the doors opened. And who else to show up fashionably late but—

"BIG BRO!" Chamo scampered to Negi's shoulder. "Where have you been?! Did you beat the boss all right?!"

"I've been hunting for leads on Becky... and well, I just sorta helped. Serizawa-san beat up the boss, and..." Negi looked over to see that Kurusu hadn't been healed—she still had a nasty stomach wound. "Oh no!"

"What?! How'd she get this!?" The ermine panicked. "Where's Konoka-ane-san when you need her?!"

"Negi-kun!" The super convenient healing princess arrived, flanked by her royal lesbian guard ("Don't give the two people reading this ideas!" Setsuna objected) and Baka Pink! She noticed the bleeding from Kurusu and Negi's rather weak state. "You're bleeding, and she's bleeding badly! How long was this inflicted?"

Negi tried to process how long he felt from her shocking display. "I'd guess two minutes."

"I think I can still do this then..." Konoka pulled out her moon wand. Pointing to the sky, she shouted, "Sata Andagi!" Rushing white light bathed Negi, Kurusu, and Serizawa, despite it no longer being necessary for the latter. Those who hadn't seen her powers before, namely Makie, marveled.

The bright lights caused Kurusu to stir. "Ugh..."

"K... Yuzuko?" For the first time since the battle ended, Serizawa spoke. She removed her helmet/mask completely. Everyone else thought it was a good idea to shut up for now.

"Serizawa-san..." Kurusu murmured. "Why...?"

"Despite who we were, I thought we could still be friends, you know..." Serizawa answered, sadness seeping into her voice. "I loved the Drama Club with all my being—it was who I was, but... And I wanted to tell you, but..."

"I wanted to tell you, too," Kurusu responded. "But the great Roboko-san was too hard a hurdle to overcome. And you wield magic, too? We were bitter rivals, but now I can't even compare!" And she burst into tears.

Serizawa couldn't even say anything to that, mostly because it was true. And to top that off, those without magic who witness magical events must have their memory wiped...

"Forgive me for interrupting this tender moment, but I have an idea!" Chamo suddenly spoke up. Negi and his pals looked at him as if he had grown five feet. "Kurusu-ane-san! Normally the price for learning about magic is having your memory wiped out! BUT there is a nice and easy way to side step that issue! And you can make up with your old friend and rival and get a power boost in one fell swoop!"

The brunette blinked. "Eh? H-how?"

"Pactio, my dear lady!" Chamo announced.

Serizawa's face became a perfect stoplight replica. "P-p-p-pactio?! Are you insane, ermine?!"

"Pactio with you? Lawl no!" Chamo laughed, putting his tiny paws on his hips. "That makes more enemies for big bro! Just line up right here and kiss big bro on the lips!"

"Chamo-kun!?" Negi interjected.

"No way!" Serizawa sharply objected. "I'm not letting Kurusu-chan join Negi's infinitely growing harem!"

"Oh ho?" Chamo grinned. "Say how you _reeeeeally_ feel, then!"

"Ummm guys?" Negi tried to interject. "Shouldn't Kurusu-san have a final say in what she wants?"

Kurusu cut through the arguing. "...I'll do it."

There was only stunned silence. The girl rose and quietly walked over to Negi. Chamo activated the circle as she gazed sadly into the boy's eyes. "I really don't know what I'm doing, to be honest. I just want to know what I... really feel. So before I do this... Negi-sensei. A p-partner has to do this pactio with a mage, right?"

"Oh umm... yes!" Negi answered as truthfully as he could.

"Any mage, right?"

"...I think so."

Kurusu's eyes suddenly became unreadable. "Then forgive me, Negi-sensei." Instead of leaning down to kiss him, she immediately whirled behind her and attacked Serizawa's lips.

All jaws hit the floor.

Barely reacting in time, Chamo transferred the circle to the new yuri pair. "Pactiooooo!" Three twirling cards formed from thin air, circling the sky before dropping right into Kurusu's heart. "No new partners for big bro, but hey, I still get money, and with a new yuri horde challenger too! NICE!" For some reason, Konoka and Setsuna sneezed in unison.

The stunned Serizawa simply fell, butt first to the floor. "W-w-wh-what...?!"

Kurusu was in tears. "I... I don't wanna fight anymore! Or at least, not fight you! I wanted to keep following you, to the ends of the earth! You're the first person that... I mean something to!" And Kurusu hugged her, and she cried hard.

Serizawa could do nothing but hug back. "Yeah... I'll guide you..."

Negi smiled. "I dunno what's going on, but I'm glad that they talked it over and made up."

"You'll understand one day, Negi-kun!" Konoka rubbed his back happily.

"I'm so moved!" Makie shed a tear for the obvious.

It was then the more figurative floodgates opened.

The first was a standing ovation... from the Roboko fakes.

"I'm truly moved!" One spoke, shedding crocodile tears. "Our little Serizawa is all grown up! She's already starting her own yuri pairing!" This one sounded remarkably like Howell.

"Screw you!" Serizawa shot back without letting go of Kurusu.

"She's even getting cheekier than Behoimi-chan!" A rosy voice called from a Roboko, likely Media. "I think we hit a sore spot!"

The second floodgate was a blue hedgehog, who didn't even bother with anything outside of a friendly greeting to Negi and the new yuri pair before bursting at full speed and tearing apart what was still standing of the buildings.

The ruckus immediately summoned both the drama club and the movie club, who immediately set aside their differences and raged hard enough to chase everyone out of the sound stage. Negi dodged all manner of chaotic flying objects, including random buildings, drama club props, and a blue ball of spikes going at Mach 1 against a bunch of magically inclined students in robot suits for what appeared to be no reason other than to stuff a cool five second fight.

Yeah, things stopped making sense so Negi and our pals cleared out quick.

* * *

Tired from their endless chasing ordeal, Negi, his present 3-A underlings, Serizawa and Kurusu came to a stop in a sunset-soaked hallway. "Whew... who knew that Peach Moon's students could get away with such crazy things?" Konoka panted.

"You'll get used to it eventually," Serizawa recovered.

"Not sure about that," Makie said, pointing to two figures stumbling into their vision in the hallway. Nodoka and Asuna, coming from separate directions, fell to a defeated heap on the floor.

"God, this school...!" Asuna complained.

"Sakurai..." Nodoka weeped after tripping for the nth time.

"Are you guys okay?" Kurusu leaned in on them curiously.

"I'm fine," Nodoka stood up quickly.

"I've had better..." Asuna muttered. She dusted herself off and stood up, only to notice Serizawa. "Wait a second... aren't you...?"

"Yep, SMC's number two at your service," Serizawa took a near-mocking bow towards Asuna. "But don't expect me to tell you anything about those powers that you don't already know. I'm just as clueless."

"I'll get answers out of one of you..." Asuna hissed.

"You probably won't have time," Serizawa coolly ignored Asuna's building rage. "By now, our 'Colonel Sanders' has probably found Becky."

"What?!" Negi immediately came to attention, along with the shocked faces of the rest of 3-A. Had he already failed...?! What about his epic reunion scene?! He can't let Al steal the show! "Please stop." FIIIINE.

"Wait a minute," Setsuna suddenly stopped. "What were you guys actually planning to do once you found Becky-sensei?"

"...now that I think about it, I have no clue. The Colonel mentioned holding her accountable for something..."

"That means we have to find them even faster now!" Negi panicked. "What do we do?"

"I can assure you that's a lie." A voice cut in.

All heads turned to see several familiar faces: the cast of 1-C had finally arrived.

"Hey ladies!" Chamo finally cheered. "What held you all up? You missed all the fun!"

Miyako, was held in an arm lock, with Himeko and Rokugou doing the honors. Rei and Ichijou stood further back. The shiny forehead girl simply cleared her throat a bit before slowly continuing. "I spent all day trying not to blow her cover, but..." The girl sighed. "I know where Becky is. I knew all along, actually."

OUR THE UH-OH. How did she know this secret? Why did she even hide it in the first place? What has Becky been up to, if she's safe and sound? And aren't there people missing?! Tune in next time!

Well, for the missing people, you can just hang tight...

* * *

"Why did you guys forget me again?!" Kurumi wailed.

Having been stuck at her part time job, Kurumi found herself journeying alone towards Peach Moon. And with the sun pretty much gone from the sky, the night was already establishing its chilling reign across the land. Night finally took charge by announcing itself with a nasty (but all too familiar) howl.

And our ordinary girl wasn't liking it one bit.

"Guys... guys?" Kurumi murmured as she opened the door towards the school, seeing nothing. "I thought there was some big stage project between the Drama and Movie clubs today! Have they all gone home already?" Stepping in, all of a sudden, her body was awash in a feeling of dread. She was no psychic like Miyako or Nodoka was, so why she was feeling this was...

Kurumi cautiously walked further. It grew and grew, as she stepped inside, left only with the sound of her own walking. Why was this happening? Was the darkness following her? Or was she just being paranoid? Maybe she didn't watch enough horror movies, so her sense of dread was the lack of genre savvy catching up to her?

"Guys?" She called once more. _Am I really no closer to them? Did they already find Becky and go home?!_

Kurumi sighed. Then she heard... voices! Melodious voices! Those voices belonging to her friends! She was awash with relief. She could finally get back to her friends! So she started walking towards the sound, ready to bellow her lungs out...

A hand clamped over her mouth, and another snaked itself around her arms, locking them behind her.

"Mmph?!" Kurumi's body froze for just a brief moment before she began to struggle.

"Sshhh," A voice, a dark and yet melodious voice, answered her struggling. Kurumi tried to turn her head to get a look at her captor, but from her vintage point, all she could see was a face of a girl... a girl with eyes so blue as to be nigh inhuman. This renewed her futile struggling.

"Ssshh... you belong to me, now," This haunting girl whispered. "There's no need for you to find your friends yet. Perhaps it might be better for your friends to find you instead."

And with that, Kurumi disappeared into the darkness against her will.

* * *

The sun was by now completely set, giving way to the moonlight.

Akira also heard the eerie howl that pierced the air, signaling the coming of the night. But that was irrelevant—despite being alone, comforted only by moonlight, she cared not for this situation. Why was that?

Easy—she found the school swimming pool! Ah, silly Akira. Why are you so predictable? "What can I say?" Akira responded.

...Nothing, I guess.

This pool wasn't as nearly spacious as the one back in Mahora, but it was under the stars, and it was clean. That was A-OK in her book, so she easily dived into it and let her arms and legs do all the work. The feeling of the all-consuming water was a truly refreshing thing.

She feared not the loneliness of the pool—she swam alone in more dangerous areas, and she took care of herself alright. Knowing her limits wherever she swam was key. Taking a small breather, she simply let herself go limp and float atop the water. "The moon, huh?" The waning moon returned a sleepy gaze.

Thinking in the spooky darkness, Akira recalled some rumors earlier that day. Monsters—no, MERMAIDS lurked around this place at night. Certain people have tried investigating it, but all have ended in failure. Why was that?

Rumors and mermaids made her remember a poem she read from a book once. "Mermaid, mermaid without a fight. Grant me true love through your blood tonight..." Hearing herself whisper that poem out loud, for some reason or another, nearly made her shiver and lose her lazy float in the pool. "...maybe I shouldn't feel so superstitious about this." She murmured.

You're aware of magic, fighting devilish forces and yet you say that?

Silly girl. You just started The Darkness: Act II.

**-X-X-X-**

**OMAKE!**

In the days that followed, Ichijou often went to visit Howell in the other academy.

"Oh?" Howell gave a cheery smile. "Is there something that you'd like?"

"I'd like to learn about magic, thanks," Ichijou answered bluntly.

"Straight to the point, eh?" Howell crowed. Putting his arms around the girl. "Okay then! I'll teach you... if you _sleep with me_, that is."

"Sure, okay."

Howell twitched. This was too easy... this was _obviously a trap_! "_Rejected_! Geez, would it kill you to blush a bit? Girls who don't protest a little aren't moe at all!"

"Ultra pervert," Ichijou coolly countered. However, she began to think about it. After a moment, she murmured: "P-please be gentle with me. I'm nervous..." _In complete monotone_.

"**You suck**," Howell groaned.

And so, they began to talk in a little more earnest. Ichijou explained she was actually from Peach Moon, three stops down by train. And in turn, Howell explained more about the magic world, and the legends contained within. Strangely enough, they still didn't share with each other too closely. When asked what her real name was, Ichijou answered, "**Phillip Ichijou Chandler the Fourth**."

"Haha, guess I'll call you Ichijou-chan then." Howell shrugged.

The subject shifted. "How is your significant other?" Ichijou asked, perhaps wondering if he even had a significant other.

"Oh, she raged hard on the phone last night and declared that she never wanted to see me again. I thought that was kinda cute." Howell remarked as if he were discussing an interesting joke. "But this morning she called again and left a message, so I know she didn't mean it."

Ichijou, at that point, felt something stir. Emotions she thought she didn't have.

I suppose I should define envy—a desire to want what you cannot have. Ichijou knew what that word meant, but she couldn't place it at the time—even when Howell placed a kiss on his girlfriend one day. Rather than stew on it, however, she decided to go home and have soup for dinner.

The following day she got up, went to school, and when that was over, took the train to the boy's school. When she met the still carefree Howell, the boy actually offered to comb her hair—a gesture that was strangely new to her. Even so, she accepted.

She began talking again. "So how is your girlfriend?" She asked.

"Oh, we broke up," Howell answered nonchalantly. "We thought about it, and we just didn't think we were what the other was looking for."

This was not new to Howell's life. He cycled through girlfriends, hardly holding a relationship for more than a week. Perhaps he was searching for something.

Ichijou wasn't sure what she felt about this—or the last time she felt anything. _So why now?_

Enough of that—she made her move. Suddenly whipping around and straddling the boy, she whispered. "I want to learn how to hex people now."

"Oh really?" Howell asked a little nervously and too innocently.

Thus, the story of the strange duo continues.

**-X-X-**

(Next time: "Midnight Strikes in the Garden of Madness!" By Serizawa

Happy Valentine's Day! Funny how all this worked out. Episode 8 has actually started partway, so maybe it won't be over a month since last update this time around. Stay tuned, and tell your friends to read and review too!)


	9. Midnight Strikes in a Garden of Madness!

**Nightmare?!**

**Episode 8: "Midnight Strikes in the Garden of Madness!" by Serizawa**

"I know where Becky is... knew the whole time, actually," Miyako had boldly stated last episode. Her shiny forehead did not shine in this fallen atmosphere at all—even considering that she just brought a major secret to light.

"What?!" Negi interjected. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"That's what WE want to know!" Himeko and Rei complained in unison, smacking Miyako around for effect.

"It's the secret of the year!" Rokugou added.

"The Kashiwagi twins were so shocked they forgot to show up," Ichijou stated, but of course she was ignored. "No pactio card action for them, I guess."

"You make that sound insignificant..." Kurusu pointed out.

"Cut it out!" Miyako whined, finally stopping her endless beatdown. "Well... anyway, I told Becky to hide, because of that freakish darkness that attacked her a few days before she left. Right after the attack, she suspected Cygnus, due to the perfect motivation. But as our investigation progressed, heavy evidence stacked up against that idea. At that point, I knew that darkness had more or less a very strong tie to you, Negi-sensei."

Negi's eyes shrank. "...me? How did I cause this?"

Miyako sighed heavily, trying her best to ignore the glares from 3-A coming in her direction. "Let me establish this first: It's no fault of your own. But..." Miyako gazed at everyone again. "...we remember the fairy that attacked us last time at your school was also from that darkness. If it wasn't Cygnus, then it could only be that—the darkness that tried to hurt Becky was trying to lure you here."

"Does that mean Negi-kun just walked straight into a trap?" Konoka asked.

"Becky figured he'd come running no matter what she did," Miyako said. "I came up with the idea of having her hide for now—she could do some research on her own, and admittedly, it'd get you here faster without Becky getting hurt. And I had reasons of my own."

"Oh ho?" Serizawa raised her eyebrow and leered at Miyako. "What were those reasons?"

"Know how dark boy's involved in this despite our initial and main findings being contrary to that?" By now, Miyako was fed up of her position as underarm rag and shined her forehead on her captors. As Himeko and Rokugou tried to recover their eyesight, Miyako continued. "I had a feeling he'd put his hand in this, and it's bugging me. Something about him has _always_ been bugging me, and I intend to find out what."

"Cygnus-kun...?" Rokugou blinked.

Miyako whirled around. "Don't you even start, girlie."

"Eh?! But I wasn't..." The demure girl began, her face flushing red.

"Don't worry about it, she's just being grouchy again," Rei waved off Rokugou's worry and Miyako's growing irritation.

Serizawa stealthily appeared right next to Konoka and whispered, "What's this about Cygnus?" Showing no ill intent, she completely ignored Konoka's slight surprise and Setsuna's sword poking at her neck as a result.

"Long story short..." Konoka whispered back after recovering (and cajoling Setsuna to do the same), "Rokugou-han likes Cygnus-han, we don't!"

"Ah, makes sense," Serizawa nodded, much like ninja do. She stepped away from the other yuri pair and rose her voice for master show-thievery. "I guess I'll let you guys go and find Becky for now. Yuzuko and I will temporarily keep the others off your back."

"I'll do my best!" Kurusu pumped her fist.

"Thank you, Serizawa-san!" Negi bowed.

"Hold it," Serizawa caught their attention.

"Yes?"

"Watch your step. This place has been corrupted by darkness and strange creatures, lately..." The actress-slash-ninja advised gravely. "We're gone." Taking Kurusu's hand, the two of them ran back in the direction they came.

Getting the message quickly, Negi's harem (with Miyako leading) immediately sprinted off down the hallway, hopeful they could find the other half of their teaching force—and in the process, remain oblivious of their missing numbers.

And that growing darkness, too.

* * *

"Not bad... not bad at all!" Jack Rakan stood victorious over his fallen opponent. "To think that I was the one who had to take you down..." He looked left and right, seeing Howell and Media were still trying to recover.

"Dammit..." Sonic, now in night form, was struggling to stay upright. "I didn't ask to pick a fight with a freight train... _with swords—_!" However, once the imagery of a fast moving train wielding swords and slashing indiscriminately while laughing maniacally crossed the hedgehog's mind, he quickly amended his statement. "Okay, maybe not a _freight train_..."

"Interesting imagery hedgehog," Howell groaned from his awesome vantage point of the second dimension on the floor. "But I think Rakan's more like an infinite abyss of swords."

"I think I prefer 'the best Swiss Army Knife'," Media chirped. "With a _chainsaw_ attached. And some swords."

Jack laughed heartily. "I don't really care. I just live to fight and oggle at pretty ladies. Peach Moon's got a lot, actually."

"You should rub off that voyeurism on Connor, I think he needs it."

_Am I seriously listening to this?!_ Sonic complained mentally. _I shouldn't have mocked Windia... or actually that might've been a good thing, too. Even _I'd _hate for her to face this guy_! Sonic was wondering what was more surprising—Rakan's strength or these crazy student mages. He thought Negi was powerful, but these guys were on a whole new level, despite his victory against two of them. But considering how he heard about their plans to find Becky, maybe he could convince Cygnus to harass them instead...

"So blue dude, how about you tell me what brings you here?" Rakan asked, twirling a sword in his right hand. "While Peach Moon's pretty weird, blue hedgehogs don't quite fit in, you know."

"Not here by complete free will, I'll tell ya that," Sonic growled, keeping ready just in case something went down. His strength was coming back... "Other than that, can't say much."

"You sure about that? We have _ways_ of making you talk, you know," Howell sneered like a bishounen villain. "I have connections to some chupacabra tribes nearby, they'll be glad to take _one of their own_!"

"I'm a hedgehog, dammit!" Sonic predictably retorted like clockwork.

"Wahahaha, don't make me la—"

Media gasped slightly, cutting down the argument. "Huh?" Media's eyes actually became visible, and she stepped back.

"What?" All Student Mage Council eyes present were on her.

Media merely aimed a finger at the ground.

Ripples formed on the floor, like water droplets hitting the surface of a lake. Something was rising from beneath. _Something_...

"Not looking good, is it?" Sonic grit his teeth.

* * *

Akira floated aimlessly, listening to the silence in all of its deafening glory.

But in this small sample of oceanic waters, there was no peace. Only quiet. Truly disturbing quiet. That was, until Akira heard something. The sound of something... _emerging_ from the water.

But wasn't she alone in the pool? How could someone pop out if she never saw (or felt) anyone go in? Akira got her answer when she straightened herself and looked at the water and the pool area around it.

She found she was no longer alone.

They looked like ordinary girls. Sure, all of them had swimsuits and black hair, but yeah, otherwise they looked normal. But perhaps there was that small issue of them all sharing the same mischievous smile. Or maybe it was the barely audible but definitely inhuman shrieks some of them did. Or how about the fact that all of their eyes appeared hauntingly dead blue.

Yeah, definitely not human.

Slowly, she found them emerging into the world, with all eyes on her. All eyes on her... they eyed her as if, perhaps, she may be one of their own.

Their inhuman gazes wrapped around the lone swimmer, perhaps as inviting as it was mortifying. The swimmers drew closer...

Akira Ookouchi was very confused by this matter!

* * *

"So guys, you mean to tell me this is it?" Negi asked, coming to a stop in front of a single door.

Miyako turned around to face everybody else. "You guys know this place, right?"

"Isn't that Becky's office?" Rei raised an eyebrow. "What are we doing here?"

"Step inside and see," Miyako mystically answered. The girls exchanged looks, and walked inside.

In the darkness, Becky's office almost appeared abandoned. It had been roughly a week since the girl had been gone, and since Becky was largely weary of janitorial work in the past for some strange reason, the office never got cleaned. Probably still unfit for a hiding place for Becky.

"Ew, this place would look much cozier for a teacher's office if it wasn't so dirty," Makie murmured.

"Child geniuses don't clean up after themselves too well, I take it," Setsuna pondered.

"Please cut down on the child genius insults," Negi cut into the musings before they could go any further. Looking earnestly at their temporary guide, Negi said, "Miyako-san, I don't think Becky's here."

"Hold it, we're not at the good part yet," Miyako said. With a bit of embarrassment, she added, "Observe." She walked past the large group over to a corner, where a small floodlight was mounted. She dug around a bit before turning it on. Then she walked back to the center of the room, where she opened up... a trap door.

"A trap door?" Konoka asked.

"That's been there," Rei answered. "Watanuki crawls out of there every now and then. How would Becky manage to hide in there?"

Miyako said nothing. Instead, she tilted her head back slightly with a somewhat rueful face. The light from the floodlight bounced off of her head and onto the floor below, revealing the floor below the trapdoor was just an illusion.

"Amazing!" Nodoka marveled.

"That's the trick of the year!" Rokugou also interjected.

Rei decided to simply laugh hard. "Oh wow, that makes _way_ too much sense!"

"Oh you shut up," Miyako retorted. Her mind flashed back to when Becky had the idea and she shuddered. Despite her bratty nature there were a few times where her deviousness actually became a threat. Rather not let them know _that_... She was about to step down into the secret area when she noticed that a few girls close to the door had perked up. "What's going on?"

Setsuna opened the door and peered outside. "I don't like the feeling of this..." The girls and Negi faintly heard her voice. Outside, Setsuna could see two shapes tearing towards them with chaotic speed.

"Hi everyone!" Media happily waved at the swordswoman. "It's prudent that you flee. See you!"

There was some unintelligible screaming/yelling/crying coming from the other person running which Setsuna identified as Howell. "Umm..."

Ichijou didn't even hesitate, she jumped over Setsuna and tore after the fleeing duo.

Setsuna came back in, still completely flummoxed over the matter. While everyone else simply stared back in expectant confusion, the guardian suddenly tensed.

"Secchan?" Konoka asked.

"Ojou-sama, behind you!" Setsuna lunged, not even bothering to register that she spooked nearly everyone in the room.

"Setsuna-sa—?!" Negi started, but his eyes caught something emerge from the wall, as if the wall itself were made of water. Whatever it was attempted to snatch Konoka, but it failed miserably as Setsuna had already stole her charge to safety. "What are those things?!"

"Tch. Mermaids," Miyako hissed.

"Mermaids?" Nodoka shivered.

The strange, almost human creatures seemed to swim in, regarding the crew with a combination of creepily inviting smiles and a tinge of curiosity at the large group. In response, the more human amongst them drew closer together, as if constricted by a giant snake.

"What we call them, anyway..." The shiny forehead girl answered. "We don't know what they want, but they come out at night, and they're way too touchy-feely for their own good..."

Case in point: one went straight for Setsuna's chest.

"No!" Konoka made a semi-feeble attempt to smack them away. "You can't touch Secchan!" Why, because she belongs to you?! "H-hush!" Setsuna decided it was wise to not say a word and simply defend her more powerless classmates from these apparently perverted nightmare mermaids.

"Surprised I haven't heard a 'is this Japan anymore?!' line from Kurumi..." Rei thought out loud amusedly. "Where is she? I'd thought she'd meet us here." When all she got were worried glances, the Chinese girl sighed. "Hmph, we can't back out of looking for Becky now, but if she wandered into this, she could be in trouble."

"I don't want these things to compromise Becky's lab, so do you guys mind hunting for Kurumi and distracting these guys?" Miyako asked as she jumped into the hole.

"Oh no I'm not!" Asuna also jumped in.

"I'm gonna be the first to hug Becky~!" Himeko cheered.

"What?!" Makie objected. "But why?! I don't want to experiment!"

"Me neither!" Nodoka shivered. She turned to their tiny teacher. "Negi-sensei!"

"I'll activate your pactios!" Negi answered while lifting up his magic stick, as if solving world hunger.

...Nobody who had already departed liked where this was going.

* * *

Deep within the heart of the underground of Peach Moon, Negi and his small group entered this hidden sanctuary at their own peril, past the vaulted door, where they saw impossible things that the world has never seen before...

...like the massive collection of magical apparatus and books. It seemed more fitting of a mad occult scientist than a bratty underaged genius girl, but somehow it still managed to feel just like Becky.

"How the hell did Miyamoto brat even get her hands on half this stuff?!" Asuna looked around in sheer wonder. "Ichijou's plot device?!"

"That's one of my theories," Miyako answered, using her shiny forehead like a flashlight for some of the darker areas of the lab. I am so damn lucky Rei's not with us right now.

"It's so cool," Himeko marveled. "Why didn't Becky tell me about this?! Now I really want to see her drink some potions and turn into a hundred huggable mini-Beckys! Maho maho mahoooo..." She spun around like the happy fool she was, and everyone else ignored her.

"Hey, big bro!" Chamo popped out of Negi's front pocket on his shirt. "Are you sure those girls upstairs are gonna be okay?"

Negi smiled nervously. "I hope so. It seems I'm abandoning them, and that won't do. We have to find Becky quickly and get back upstairs."

They called out Becky's name as they walked in further. The lab wasn't anything big by any means, but catching Becky unaware in such a small space would probably end with a lot of strange experiments thrown in their faces... that wasn't something Negi wanted right now.

Alas, all he saw was that unforgiving darkness yet again.

"Nothing... no sign of Becky-san..." Negi murmured. "It's not looking good."

Chamo stood erect, sniffing the air like some sort of living antenna. "Hey big bro. Somebody else familiar is around here."

"Oh crap! I forgot the Student Mage leader might be here!" Negi's eyes grew wide.

"But I said it's impossible!" Miyako shot back. "Not even that weirdo leader should know where this is!"

"It ain't him!" Chamo silenced the argument. He sniffed a bit, and then a bit more. "I think it's Kurumi-ane-san."

"Kurumi?!" Everyone else reeled back in shock.

"How'd she even get down here?!" Miyako was raging hard at this point. "There's no way she could even find it by accident! Unless..."

"Look..." Asuna stopped her train of thought with a finger point. Standing just opposite of the small group was a blue door, adorned with strange, dendrite-like tentacles swathed around it.. Yet another boss door. "Somebody... or something, did beat us to the punch."

And as if it knew they were there, it rose open with an ominous rumbling.

"It seems to be challenging us," Miyako murmured.

"I don't like challenges from inanimate objects," Chamo muttered. "They never end well."

"I get the feeling I won't like what's behind this door..." Negi's voice, racked with seriousness and trepidation rather than outright fear, was only slightly louder than a whisper. "But..."

"Enough of that!" Asuna lightly rapped the boy on the head, causing him to wince and hold his noggin. "We're going in and kicking someone's ass. No matter how scary that is, that's all there is to it!" And with that, she marched right in.

"Hey, wait up!" Himeko and Miyako shouted, as they walked in as well, with Negi bringing up the rear.

For a while, all Negi saw was darkness, but stepping in further cleared it away into a moonlit classroom—wait a second.

This was... _wait a minute_. What the hell is going on here!? Wasn't this classroom upstairs?! Negi's brain racked itself in confusion as the door slammed, locking them in.

"Hey, isn't this 1-C?!" Miyako exclaimed. "I thought we were downstairs in the lab!"

Negi thought so too, but he had much bigger concerns. You see, sitting on the desk was Kurumi Momose, her ankles wrapped in darkness, her hands tied behind her back, and her mouth gagged with that darkness as well. The girl looked alert and fearful, but was strangely silent. "Kurumi-san...?!"

"Kurumi?!" Himeko reeled back in horror.

"Oh wonderful," Miyako stated in keyboard-melting sarcasm. "We fell into a trap."

"Is this Swan Boy's doing?!" Asuna reeled back.

"I can assure you it is not," A voice announced. The cast was aware of a faint shape dropping in beside Kurumi. She leered at the group with her unsettling blue eyes. "Negi-sensei, it's great I finally have a real audience with you. Now I can take everything away from you any way I wish."

"Wait—you're in my class!" Negi's eyes widened. "Aren't you—"

"My name is Lirael," This otherworldly girl gave a somehow warm and yet sinister smile. "I am but a puppet serving my master, who wishes to see you in ruin. I was close in finding the other child, but now that you're here, you'll do nicely."

Negi's eyes sank.

"The hell is your problem?!" Asuna stamped her feet.

"If your master is who I think it is, what's with the obsession about Negi-sensei anyway?!" Miyako also complained. "Why do you want him in ruin?!"

"I myself care not for the boy's fate, but I will do as my master wishes," Already beside Kurumi, Lirael leaned in closer. "Besides, why bother with him? You are all beautiful..." She flicked out her tongue and, ever so slowly, licked the side of Kurumi's face. The girl whimpered from the act of affection. "...so why don't you join me instead?"

_Dude, what is_ wrong _with this woman?!_ Asuna's face contorted in fear and disgust.

Himeko pointed, as if she had just seen a train wreck. "You... you're doing it wrong!"

"That's right!" Chamo added to Himeko's fright. "Do you not know what 'consensual' means?!" Priorities, mister ermine! Do you have them?! ("I don't!" Sonic complained somewhere while playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl)

"Why are you doing this...?" Negi's face was, for once, completely unreadable, though he was shaking. "What are you trying to prove?"

Lirael stopped touching her hostage and stood up. Her voice suddenly changed, sounding more alien and less emotional. "**That I can defeat you.**" She raised a hand, and several desks rose with it, spinning a bit before Negi and his group. The good guys scrambled backwards to avoid the deadly debris, but faster and more accurate desks replaced their failed brothers.

Negi was having none of this. He snarled, crouching down. "Tel ma..." He slammed his hands on the floor. "AMORISTA!" Some other desks rose and crashed into their offending brethren, bringing the Desk Wars (tm) to a stalemate.

"She's completely serious..." Chamo muttered.

"Negi... let us transform," Asuna requested, though in most everyone's eyes that was a statement.

"We'll send this girl packing..." Himeko, her face in that rare and dangerous serious mode. "...until her master shows his face, and then we'll kick HIS ass!"

Negi rose, bringing his staff to the forefront. "Understood... Partners: Asuna Kagurazaka, Himeko Katagiri, Miyako Uehara... show me the power within you. Contract.... activate!" He pulled out the cards locked into their souls.

"Geck!?" Asuna found herself half-her size and in a boar suit. "Why now?!" She turned to Miyako, who's forehead twinkled like clean glass. "And hey wait, I thought your cosplay card was different!"

"Dunno about you," Miyako was in a loose Japanese garb, her right hand holding a smoker's pipe. "And my powers are mostly the same, the Kashiwagi twins just swapped out my creep wardrobe. But enough about that, look."

Himeko simply flickered out of sight, and just a second later, Lirael had to flip backwards to dodge a giant key that would've ripped a hole in her gut. In armor form, Himeko sailed down into the visible world again, charging towards the woman that threatened them. Picking up her Keyblade in one smooth motion, Himeko slashed forward, but the nimble Lirael dodged once more. Still angry, Himeko continued her fierce assault, but could not land a blow.

"Himeko-san, be careful!" Negi warned.

"Hey!" The tiny Asuna complained. "Don't take my shtick!"

"Much too aggressive," Lirael chided, floating to safety before crouching on a desk much like a cat. "I do think you should be more careful, yes?" Almost too quickly for the eye to see, something slithered out of her back.

Moments later, the Keybearing girl felt her right foot simply jerk from under her—only her amazing reaction time kept her head from smacking the floor, and even then, she still found herself dangling upside down from... a tentacle?! "Aiyiyiyaaah!" Himeko squealed, her anger evaporating into panic instantly. It turned out that the girl had grown not just one tentacle, but FOUR of them, and one had ensnared her foot. The other three snaked about her threateningly, daring the others to make a move.

"You... aren't half bad yourself," Lirael examined her quarry much like a hungry hyena would inspect meat, except all the drooling and depravity would be exclusive to her eyes. "Alas, you are much too dangerous..." The strange girl's extra appendages shot forward to further her attack on Himeko...

"Saggita Magica... Series Fulguralis!" Negi shoved his hand forward as 17 arrows of lightning shot forward, knocking the freaky tentacles away. The arrows struck hard enough to shock Lirael herself.

"Gah!" The girl curled in pain, stumbling backwards a bit before gaining her bearings again. "Perhaps..." She lifted a hand. All of a sudden, Negi and the three girls felt a pull, as if something was dragging them left and increasing in force.

"What the hell?!" Miyako yelled in shock as she found herself crashing into the nearby wall. Negi and Asuna also crashed, but unlike Miyako recovered faster—only to find a few desks sailing towards them as well. All three screeched before pulling their best evasive maneuvers, evading the raining desks.

Himeko landed more gracefully, standing upright on the wall. Hardly giving another thought to it, she ran along the wall as if gravity deemed it the floor and charged towards the almost spectral girl, Keyblade at the ready. The girl whirled her weapon and sliced at the enigmatic woman, the blade missing its target by mere centimeters. Lirael flipped backward as Himeko's blade once again crashed where she stood just a moment before.

"Too slow~," Lirael taunted. She began to float in midair. She swept her hand to the left, and once again, the good guys found a strange force dragging them towards another wall—this time, the ceiling.

"Oh _wonderful_, she can manipulate _gravity_," Miyako murmured as she recovered and floated backwards to evade the falling desks for a second time.

"That explains why she's toying with us so easily..." Negi hissed. "I have to finish this—huh?" Alas, Lirael was nowhere in sight.

Chamo suddenly perked up. "Miyako-ane-san! BEHIND YOU!"

"What...?" Miyako didn't even look behind herself at first—rather, she scrambled forward, apparently dodging a tentacle that smashed the ground right behind her. "Eep!" She whirled around seeing Lirael drop down from her vintage point just out of their eyesight.

Negi had taken the advantage of the confusion and dashed towards the girl, readying a magic spell. "Tel MA..." He swung his staff, pointing at her. "AMORISTA!" Bursts of light snaked and trailed towards the offending Lirael. The strange girl flung more desks as a counter, and the light arrows crashed against them.

Smoke obscured Negi's sight.... this was baaaaad news. Tensing his muscles, the boy waited for an attack.

The smoke parted, and Lirael lunged at him like a lunatic out of hell. The boy moved forward and aimed a fist, ready to counter...

That failed massively when Lirael suddenly changed her path, sweeping downwards and pulling a fierce and perfect uppercut to Negi's chin. The boy sailed to the ceiling, or rather the floor, with such force that gravity repaired itself afterwards. Or maybe that was just Lirael's sadistic sense of timing.

Speaking of gravity repair, the desks returned to their rightful place on the ground--a little too fast for anyone in a helpless and painful state like Negi.

"Negi!" Asuna screeched in tiny form. Using what little power she could muster, she threw her tiny body at the desks. "Wak!" Despite her puny form she easily (but painfully) deflected the obnoxious school furniture, herself landing on Negi's back.

"Negi-kun!" Himeko cried. But by now, Lirael had made her move. Sweeping forward, the lady of tentacles ensnared the girl, Himeko nearly losing her breath with a "HUURRK!" In fact, all of Negi's partners in the room, with the exception of suka Asuna were now about to star in their own tentacle ero game.

Negi struggled to recover. Leaning on his staff, he saw that, in fact, all was nearly lost. "No... Himeko-san, Kurumi-san, Miyako-san..."

"Dammit, let them go!" A tenacious Asuna immediately barked atop Negi's head.

"Again, do you not know what consensual is?!" Chamo screamed atop Asuna's head.

"Yes, I do," Lirael surprisingly answered the perverted ermine, her voice completely serious. "But that's not necessary here. Negi will be but a footnote in history when this is all over." The tentacles tightening over her quarry, the girl suggestively licked her lips. She leered down at Negi, her presence much like that of a giant, demonic flower. "Lament the loss of your friends and your happiness, Negi Springfield..."

"Why _you_..." Negi breathed, shaking with both weakness and rage. But apparently, he lacked enough hatred to move.

Lirael began to extend her powers. The world was growing just a bit heavier to Negi Springfield...

"Grgh!" A surprise grunt of pain jerked Negi back into reality, or what little of it was in front of him. He looked up to see Lirael had dropped her hostages and clutched her stomach, or rather, the earthly spear that was poking out of it, her face etched in a mix of shock and rage. The spear itself was doused in blood... white blood.

Wait a second. White blood?!

"You do not... mess with my _school_," A voice, perhaps all too familiar and badass, snarled. "You do not... mess with my _students_! AND MOST OF ALL," Lirael staggered out of the way, revealing the speaker to Negi's line of sight. Familiar blond hair shaded her eyes, until she lifted her head. "You. Don't. _Touch_. **Negi**!"

It was... "Becky-san!" Negi smiled, despite his weakness.

The other child genius angrily pointed in Negi's direction. "Can't you use that genius brain of yours and stop falling for obvious traps, you obnoxious bleeding heart?!"

"Becky-saaan," Negi wept like a wimp played for laughs.

"Well, well, the source of darkness was this girl after all," In a swirl of shadow, Albeiro Imma appeared.

"Are you going to help or not?" Becky whirled on him.

"I helped you get in," Albiero answered. "This is _your_ boss fight, after all. Toodles," And much like a person shouting greetings through a revolving door, he was already gone.

"Took you long enough!" Miyako complained, dusting herself off. "Let's go!"

Kurumi's eyes shone hope and let out a "Mmphrr!" That sounded much like "Becky!" If you really tried hard to listen, that is.

Lirael, not amused by our heroes' friendly reunion scene, put on her poker face and pulled out the offending earth spear Becky made, then threw it back in her direction like a javelin. When the spear whizzed by Becky's face, startling her into looking back, Lirael stated, "I missed the first time. This will not happen again..."

"Screw you," Becky hissed. "This is payback."

"Let me second that!" Himeko drew her Keyblade again, twirling it around.

"No fair," Lirael lamented as Himeko charged again. "But at least you don't learn," she added as the Keyblade once again narrowly missed turning her into shish-kabob. Taking advantage of Himeko's recovery lag, the girl reversed her momentum and charged forward to catch the foolish girl.

A bit of a surprise when Himeko backpedaled, before flipping out of harm's way of a stray tentacle—and right past Becky.

Our female underaged genius already had a surprise. She clapped her hands together, then turned her fingers in opposite directions. "Ars magna..." Electricity sparked between her palms. She then reared her hand back as if about to throw something. "Terra quris!" She shoved her hand forward, and the same earth spear that gave Lirael a gut surprise was back for round two.

"I don't fall for the same trick twice," Lirael evaded having a second stomach piercing by grabbing the front of the spear. It pushed her up, but failed to hit. She pushed herself up and stood atop the giant spear. "Now... grgh!?" A hand clamped itself across her neck.

"Where do you think _you're_ going?!" Miyako crowed, with a sneer that would make one rage hard if they ever saw it one more time. Lirael noticed Miyako's hand disappeared into a small hand mirror by her side, and if she could look backwards—there was in fact, a floating mirror right behind her, where a hand had emerged and ensnared her fair neck...

"Just because I'm stupid doesn't mean I can't _'just as planned'_ you!" Himeko also taunted. "Catch _this_," She chucked her weapon into the air, letting it spin wildly above the creepy girl.

"Ars Magna..." Becky chanted again.

Himeko gathered her strength. "Holy..."

"LIGHTNING!" Both girls bellowed, and one massive bolt of blessed thunder dropped on Lirael. Screw thinking about a world of pain, Lirael just got hit with a whole _galaxy_ of it.

"Gotta love teamwork attacks pulled out of our asses," Becky laughed, dusting off her hands.

Lirael slowly dropped to the ground. Still sizzling from that lightning attack, she could barely hold herself up, let alone stand. "You..." As the girls (and now Negi) gathered around her, weapons still ready, she continued. "I alone cannot suffice to bring my master's wish... in that end, I will bring your sorrows another way."

"Shove it and tell me who your master is!" Becky barked as if she was Jack Bauer.

Lirael gave a soft, almost non-threatening grin. "I'm sure Negi might know. Keyword being 'might'. I will be there when he puts the puzzle pieces together, that much... I'm sure of." Lirael was sinking into the earth.

"Hey, _wait_—" Negi yelled, but alas by that time, the girl was gone.

The mirage began to fade away, revealing not a proper classroom, but rather, Becky's true inner chamber of the massive lab. That orange orb showed up again, this time plonking Negi right on the head. Luckily for him, said plonk restored his energy as well. "Still not sure why those show up," Negi murmured.

Awkward silence reigned. The people of Peach Moon spent long seconds exchanging looks so frequently it was like passing a box in a factory line. That, or in Kurumi's case, enjoying the complete lack of restraint and horrible creepiness.

Finally, Becky pulled that figurative pick-axe and broke the ice. "Negi..."

Negi beamed. "Becky-saan!" The boy nearly choked the girl in a loving embrace. "It's been too long!"

"H-hey! Let go!" Becky screeched petulantly, but made no actual effort to escape. "And three weeks is too long for you?! What kind of male pansy are you?!"

"And here I thought this reunion scene was gonna suck," Rei's voice barged in—along with the rest of the pactio'd populace that had been chased off by psychotic mermaids. "Nice to see ya again, Becky."

"Becky and Negi-kun!" Konoka smiled as she admitted herself into the group hug membership.

"Wait a minute—!" Becky tried to grasp.

"Becky!" Rokugou, Himeko, and most of the others began to swarm the feel good crowd as well.

"D-don't—!"

"Hey, can we join in, too?" Howell peered in and asked. "I always liked more women." Ichijou promptly slapped him.

"Errgghh..." Becky shook with unholy rage. "Get. _OFF OF MEEEEEEEE_!"

* * *

"Geez, you clowns can barely take care of yourselves while I'm gone!" Becky haughtily complained to the small crowd gathered around her in her office. "No point in hiding now. Luckily the fruits of my labor paid off before that weirdo from the Student Mage Council came back, or those weird mermaids could find me."

"Are you talking about me?" Howell asked cheerfully, but he was ignored like hours-old news on the internet.

"What did that leader want with you, anyway?" Chamo asked.

"Despite the epic security I made, that strange fruitcake showed up, interested in all the magic power I was messing with. He lent me a book that helped me out—and today he came back to collect. Said if I ever went hiding without controlling my magic well he'd start _tryingtomakemewearswimsuits_!" The female child genius quickly shifted to embarrassed rage. "IS THAT MAN A PEDOPHILE?!"

There was a lot of nervous laughter.

"That's him on a good day," Howell said. Ichijou nodded in agreement. They were both ignored for good reason.

"So what exactly were you working on, Becky-sensei?" Makie nervously giggled.

"For those of you who didn't see me royally kick some creepy girl's butt, I have perfected a brand of Alchemy." Becky announced with pride. "By using an ancient focusing spell I can bring to reality any attack I wish (though I'm often restricted to the local environment). It's actually not as potent as it could be when Negi's got my armor activated, but when that clown's incapable of pulling those cards out, you gotta be able to do something, right?"

"Ah!" Negi surprisingly agreed, banging a fist into his open palm. "That's a really good point."

Chamo also agreed, running with that train of thought. "The issue with the temporary pactio system is that the magister has to activate it every time, and it's still a crap shoot!" Asuna thought back to all those times where she got the suka card, and the fact that she's the record holder for most suka transformations to date, and mentally raged with the anger of a thousand suns. Chamo ignored this and continued. "Having powers you can rely on without big bro around will be pretty handy!"

"Yeah, something like Secchan's swordsmanship, or Akira-san's mega strength." Konoka pointed out. "So now that Becky-sensei's back, what do we do now?"

"The keys to the Star Crystal Puzzle are right in front of us, now that we actually have an active suspect," Miyako answered, her face serious. That seriousness became infectious as everyone's faces darkened.

With the exception of Howell. But even he, for all of his foolishness, knew a solid enemy was worth noting. Albeiro will definitely need to hear this...

But Negi most of all knew. His key to solving this mystery, and why the Star Crystal thief was after him, was right within his grasp—but alas, the hardest part was yet to come. There was one person holding that key, and she wasn't about to make things easy for him.

He could only murmur one word. "Lirael..."

* * *

Those mermaids were so inviting.

_Don't go_, they pleaded in sad monster noises. _Don't leave._

Maybe Akira didn't want to leave. But she couldn't... live down here. Probably had to do with the fact that she, despite her herculean strength, was still human. And humans' lungs and water don't get along very well.

_Stay here_, the mermaid monsters pleaded, grabbing hold of her arms and holding tight, more like a child holding a prized doll than a monster trying to eat its victim. Or at least, that's what it should've felt like.

Make her stay, make her stay! Those cacophony of screeches said in mermaid monster gibberish. They surrounded Akira, grabbing her arms and legs, a loving embrace of perhaps death itself.

_No!_ Akira pleaded with her eyes and thrashing. _Even though I swim here, even though I look like them... I don't belong!_ Akira whipped around in the water, and using her strength, sent a kick towards one of those mermaid girls and smashed her away. When the others saw what was happening, they tightened their grip. Akira only thrashed harder in response.

In the midst of her thrashing, Akira opened her mouth. At the time, she wasn't sure if it was from a poke or a reflex from being down in the water too long, but the result proved devastating to even her powerful lungs. The floodgates opened.

The thrashing stopped, leading to pained gagging from the swimmer.

Seeing this, the mermaids suddenly drew back, watching with confusion as the strange girl they thought belonged to them didn't... work right in the water. Why? Was she really just someone normal. She couldn't have been...

Her strength almost non-existent now, Akira reached up. Tried pushing up to the surface... but alas, that pool was surprisingly deeper than she remembered it. She cast everything away to return, only to find that she couldn't. Everything was fading, her conscious eroding with it.

The last thing she could comprehend was sadness. Maybe she saw all the mermaids, who realized what they had done. Or maybe it was her own. Either way, the sadness overtook her mind much like the water she so loved overtook her body.

--

Akira floated aimlessly, listening to the silence in all of its deafening glory.

Except that she couldn't listen any longer, because Akira Ookouchi was dead.

**X-X-X**

Next time: "It's Impossible to Make a Prediction of Insanity, So Give Up." By Howell

(So a question: if a person dies, is their story over?

Reviews and constructive criticism too, folks!)


	10. It's Impossible to Make a Prediction

**Nightmare?!**

**Episode 9: "It's Impossible to Make a Prediction of Insanity, so Give Up." by Howell**

-X-X-X-

**OMAKE!**

"The hell?!" Sonic complained. "Whose bright idea was it to put the omake at the _beginning_ of the episode?!"

The blue Night Hog was understandably pissed. Being stuck in a gruesome form at night was one thing, and getting his ass kicked by a sword-happy lunatic was another thing, but being left alone to deal with a bunch of creepy human-like mermaids AND getting stuck in the omake at the beginning of the episode!? This was _outrage_.

But now, the strange mermaid creatures were slowly disappearing. They stopped coming at him, sinking back into the depths of the floor. Something had apparently triggered them to give up, and if Sonic was reading it right, his unfair beatdown on them certainly wasn't it. So what was going on?

Left alone, Sonic decided to end this miserable mission, find Windia and go home—or that spaceship his wicked employer called home. "What a waste of time—huh?!" Sonic noticed the swimming pool just outside the row of windows where he was standing. His eyes caught something floating. Curious, he opened up a window and hopped outside to get a better look.

It was there he found Akira Ookouchi's body.

"What... is she—?!" Sonic scrambled over to the fallen body and scooped it out of the water. He tried feeling for a pulse, but he felt nothing. Even accounting for his larger and less sensitive hands... "She can't be!" No pulse, but her body hadn't even completely lost all of its heat yet. Wasn't there something he could do? **Anything**?! "Dammit...!"

"She died?" Windia appeared, her expression of sadness akin to a young child seeing a wounded animal. "But why...?"

There was a swirl of black smoke, and Cygnus appeared. "I'm risking a hell of a lot to be here, but a death here...?!" He murmured. "This inferior darkness must be trying to get serious... How did she die?"

"It looks like she drowned to death," Sonic answered simply.

There was a pause as Cygnus blinked. Moments later, his underlings blinked too when he began to give a slight chuckle, flowing into full-blown laughter.

It was all it took for Sonic to see red. How _dare_ he...! "What the hell is _so damn __**funny**_?!" The last word was stressed as heavily as the powerful punch the night hog smashed Cygnus with, just to accentuate the point.

The swan didn't even bother to guard against that attack—he simply crashed into the ground as if the Konoe princess had given him a light-based deathblow instead of Sonic's angry punch. The cobalt nightmare looked ready to tear him in two, but Windia stood in his way, her sword drawn. Noting the hedgehog's anger and his partners' tension, he simply stood up again. "I deserved that, I suppose. Still, I can't believe I didn't see something like this coming. But then again, a death filled with irony only marks the beginning of that girl's fate. How freaking _miserable_!"

"The hell does that mean?!" Sonic countered, still angry, though his rage was decidedly weaker.

"Her magic strength, and to die in a place she so loved against her will, I practically hear her spirit screaming 'UNFINISHED BUSINESS'," The dark swan answered. He stopped to think about something, then returned to talking. "We're going back. Take the girl's body with you, and you'll see what I mean soon."

Sonic blinked. He wasn't getting this. "Why? And what happens when Negi finds out?"

"He can't find out just yet," Cygnus muttered. "If he loses concentration on that stupid case now that other darkness will press its advantage and Negi will lose. We keep her with us for now. If Negi solves this case or what I think is going to happen to this girl happens, we tell him the truth about this then."

As much as he didn't want to admit it, Cygnus had a point. Sonic growled and acquiesced. "Fine, you win." He gently picked up Akira's body.

"You should leave Negi a note," Windia advised her "elder brother". "He'll notice her absence soon enough."

"Good idea," Cygnus swirled some darkness about, summoning a pen and paper for that purpose. As soon as finished his note, the three retreated back into the darkness and disappeared into the infinite reaches of space.

**-X-X-**

"Sup everyone, I'm back," Becky declared in a voice stuck between boredom and happiness.

"Hello, Becky," The class greeted.

"I have been gone due to personal reasons, but I assure you I'm back this time!" She said. "I hope Negi had the brains to keep you up to date with your lessons and didn't let his heart bleed all over the place. Hmph."

"Where is Negi-sensei anyway?" Kurumi whispered to her friends.

"No clue," Miyako whispered back.

Becky noted the whispering but ignored it otherwise. "So can anybody recap what's been going on so far?"

"Like since you've been missing? Well, that's when Negi-kun came in!" Himeko piped up. "And then we got omega attacked by Yankee, and Negi-kun let Kurumi kick his butt, and then six of Negi's students followed us in, and then the Kashiwagi twins found out about his secret and joined him, and then Cygnus had that owl girlie attack us, and then we got in that drama war, and—mff mmmf!" Rei immediately silenced Himeko's diatribe of past events in this story.

"Goddammit, not in front of the entire class!" Rei hissed.

"Mmmf mmf mmf mmmmf!" Himeko responded, though what meant to come out was "but they're unimportant!"

"No you clowns!" Becky shot back. "Though that was useful... I'm talking about the _lessons_!"

"Are they even relevant anymore?" Rei raised an eyebrow.

"_YES_!" Becky bellowed. "What's the point of me being a teacher?!"

"So you can do the nasty with Negi Springfield," This was said with a completely straight face without missing a beat.

"Why do I hate you right now?"

Basically, this word play went on long enough to void the rest of the class. "I'll see you guys on break or after school," Becky calmly and somewhat callously said as she walked off towards the teacher's lounge. Maybe she'd heckle Negi to catch up on what was going on, if he wasn't obsessing over that creep.

* * *

But Negi Springfield was not there. Something about that fact did not sit well with her.

However, there was always her usual cohorts. "Sup Becky. Nice to see you're okay!" Saotome greeted. "The PTA was raising just as much of a stink when you were gone as when you came back."

"Why am I not surprised," Becky grumbled in monotone. Turning her head to the prominently-PE teacher, she asked in a more normal voice. "How was Negi, anyway? Did you see him today?"

"Negi was always such a mild-mannered, mature, and serious young man, unlike someone else I know," Saotome cracked. Becky grit her teeth from the indirect attack. "But I didn't see him much today. I heard one of the students that came with him disappeared last night."

Becky froze. Not only was Becky _there_ last night, but she also met with Negi's students, rescuing them from certain freaky mermaid-induced doom. Becky more or less left with _her_ students, so something going on Negi's end may have passed her by. But, thinking back to last night, of those who were Negi's students, there were only five of them there. Didn't he bring six?

"Do you know which one went missing?" Becky asked in a small voice.

Saotome frowned. "It was the swimmer, Akira Ookouchi. That girl set the record on the 100 meter freestyle, the 200 meter freestyle, the cross country swimming trip... it's like she's unstoppable in the water. Dammit, she broke records for swimming events I didn't even know _existed_!"

Becky had already tuned him out with that name. The swimmer. Now that she remembered, she never saw her face when they all met once more. This was very bad.

Snarling, Becky high-tailed it out of the office and down to the school swimming pool.

* * *

Becky wasn't sure what to expect when she got there. A horror-struck Negi, combing the area for clues? A confused Akira? A crime scene?! No, instead, she saw that pink-haired ditz, her face somber. Somehow, that was even more unexpected than any of her above thoughts. "Hey you. Sasaki-san, was it? What happened here? Where's Negi?!"

Makie turned to her, her haggard eyes shining with tears.

"Err..." Becky figured she got on the wrong foot.

Despite her teary complexion, though, Makie picked up something on the ground and handed it to Becky. The tiny teacher opened up the paper, revealing a note.

_Sup Negi,_

_I've got an Akira Ookouchi up here in a comatose state, looks like some creepy whatevers got to her in the pool. Get your ass in gear and deal with that Star Crystal, because otherwise she won't be the only statistic you'll have to worry about._

_~Cygnus_

Becky crumpled the note and hissed in rage. She was surprised she was teaching class when the stench of evil had been under her nose for this long. She gave an awkward but reassuring pat on the back for Makie before storming back into the school building.

The forlorn girl stared a bit before she noticed a familiar cat sitting right by her.

"It's room temperature-nya," the cat said before remembering who he was talking to.

"OH MOTHER, IT'S SO AWFUL!" Makie wailed as she crushed the cat in a fierce bear hug, the tears flowing freely. "WHAT WILL I DOOOOOOOOOOOO?!"

"Goddammit, I'm not even female!" The cat wailed in response.

* * *

"DAMMIT, I'm going to get my answers today or die trying!" Asuna bellowed at the top of her lungs, her hair sharing her outrage. "I'm tired of that vague student council just pointing and laughing at us! And I'm ALSO gonna kick dark boy's ass for taking Akira!"

"Umm Asuna, I think the rest of the world can hear you," Konoka tried to calm her friend down, considering that they were walking down the hallways after school. "Please don't scream right now, I don't think I can take it."

"Ojou-sama is correct," Setsuna added. "Please settle down."

"Grrrghh," Asuna snarled but relented. "Fiiiine, I know our nerves are shot from last night and Akira disappearing on us, but still..." The three of them walked down the halls, uncertain of their next move. However, Asuna turned back to see the fourth girl with them. Nodoka was hugging herself, her face somber. "Honya-chan, are you okay?"

"Negi-sensei..." She murmured.

"Still worried the most about him..." Asuna concluded. "I wouldn't blame you, it's not like any of us could focus on classes. Makie didn't even _show up_. Ha, you'd think that student mage whatever would actually give a damn about our struggles or at least help us with our schoolwork, but nooo..."

"Oi, oi," A voice cut in. "Those guys help the powerless. As far as people who can actually _do_ something, they just kinda grab popcorn and take notes."

Asuna found herself looking down at Becky.

Konoka gave a pleasant greeting. "Hello, Becky-chan!" Setsuna bowed as well.

"Yo, Miyamoto-brat," Asuna was less respectful than her peers. "Where's Negi?"

"That's what _I'm_ trying to find out," Becky coolly responded. "And for your information, it's Miyamoto-_sensei_ to you. Everyone else can still call me Becky." She rubbed under her nose and looked mighty proud of herself.

Becky turned her attention to Nodoka, who flinched and shrunk into herself. The younger teacher merely scratched her head in confusion.

Asuna fumed. "Well anyway I'm going to find out about why I've got this freaky power, and that damn council probably knows the truth."

"You sure they're gonna help?" Becky raised her eyebrow. "Chances are you've chased them to death right about now and you're still not any closer. I mean, what Magic Cancel or Magic Death _is_ should be pretty obvious, right?"

"That's not what I care about, Miyamoto-brat. I already know what it _is_," Asuna shot back. "I just want to know why do _I_ have it!"

"That's easy!" Becky smiled and gave a thumbs-up. "You're stupid."

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?!" Asuna shot back. "Grgh—look, I'd rather not be used for some evil plot if this winds up being like, hereditary or anything. That's why I'm spazzing about it right now. And worse yet I can't even freaking think straight with Negi missing, and if even you don't know where he is, then how am I supposed to rest easy?!"

"Fine, fine!" Becky waved off her worries. "Help me look for Negi, and in turn I can help you figure out just where you got those freaky powers of yours. We'd get what we both want much faster that way."

"Guess it can't hurt," Asuna agreed.

"That's good," Konoka was glad the argument was over.

"Anyway, the rest of you step back from any fights and keep your eyes open until we get Negi back," Becky said. However, she whirled around and jabbed a finger in Konoka's direction. "That includes _you_, Miss Cheerier-Than-Thou!" When Konoka reeled back despite that clueless smile on her face, Becky continued. "I know about your agenda against swan boy! It ain't gonna end well if you fight him with just your girlfriend—you got _lucky_ last time and I doubt he'll let you continue that streak. Let us geniuses handle him," And with that, Becky left. Asuna passed Konoka (and a gibbering Setsuna pressing more heated denials about their obvious relationship) a sympathetic look before leaving after her.

Nodoka took a small bow. "I'm sorry, I need to go, too." Her voice was slightly quieter than normal, but otherwise nothing tipped off the Konoe heir as the bookworm left in the opposite direction.

* * *

"Yo, Asuna-san, Becky-sensei!" Yuma Kashiwagi waved from the classroom she was in. Noticing this, Becky walked inside to talk with her, Asuna close behind.

"Hello," The more demure Yuna added.

"Sup," Asuna greeted back.

"Whaddya want, Kashiwagi twins?" Becky wasn't impressed by their appearance.

"It's not Kashiwagi twins, it's Yuma!" The more outgoing twin complained as usual. "But anyway, thank god you're back! You were seriously worrying us all, you know!"

"Hmph," Becky's cheeks tinged slightly. So there was concern for her after all. How sweet. "Anyway, have you guys seen Negi?"

"Not since this morning..." Yuma answered. "And we missed all of last night's action, too! Why do you ask?"

"Because I haven't seen him since _last night_!" Becky bellowed, staring intensely at the duo as if her stare could evaporate their souls. They reeled back, nervous. "What was he doing when you saw him?!"

"H-h-he gave us a greeting but said he was busy with some research, he'd talk to us later..." Yuna positively cowered under Becky's gaze. "He didn't really tell us anything other than that. We didn't even know where he was going!"

"Hmph," Suddenly, a thought crossed Becky's mind, and while she calmed down, she still had her Mean Look turned up to maximum. "I just remembered... you two pactioed with Negi sometime last week, didn't you? Whose bright idea between the two of you was that?!"

"Gek!" The twins swallowed hard and exchanged looks.

Asuna had a shockingly rare _thoughtful_ expression on her face. "If I remember correctly, they got possessed by some monster but Negi saved their butts so they got nosy to find some way to share their gratitude."

"Yeah... while we don't remember the incident itself," Yuma began. "He broke us free from a horrible nightmare we were having, and as a result we got curious. Lo and behold, we find him and Konoe-san fighting off darkness."

Becky grumped before rubbing her chin in consternation. "Geez, making this school ground her battlefield and corrupting not-so-innocent children!" She suddenly hissed. "The hell is up with Lirael?!"

"Same thing you get when you cross an elephant with a rhino," Asuna answered, to which Becky calmly retorted, "Fifteen points."

"Who's Lirael?" Yuna asked. "Is she..."

"Yeah, she's the girl who was responsible for trapping you in that monster and giving you guys nightmares," Asuna answered. "She said she was taking orders from someone who was closely tied to Negi. Whoever the hell that is is the real problem."

"Ugh, more mysteries, more questions..." Becky lamented. "But we'll figure this out. Kashiwagi twins!"

"It's Yu—"

"I'll give you this—welcome to our team," Becky cut them off sharply, though her face was calm and her voice not rough enough to frighten the twins. "But for right now stay out of the way."

"Don't worry, you two," Asuna gave a more pleasant smile. "Leave this to us. You'll get your chance later."

The twins blinked, understanding the gist of their words but not the full meaning. "Okay..."

Becky and Asuna left the classroom. "Ha, sure are different than the Narutakis," The latter added.

* * *

"Maaan, at this rate we won't find anything about either Negi OR why I've got freaky powers!" Asuna groaned. Both she and Becky plopped onto a bench outside. Several people asked, and not a single person had seen him since he dashed away from the sisters. "Dammit Negi, don't push yourself too hard again..."

"Pushing himself too hard?" Becky gave a quizzical look.

"I'm sure you've seen it, Miyamoto-brat," Asuna said. "When he wants to do something for somebody else, he pulls out all the stops, and sometimes he forgets to take care of himself. I guess he gets that from his dad."

"Miyamoto-_sensei_ to you," Becky corrected. "And his pops? Thousand Master?"

"He looks up to him," Asuna answered. "That brat's been single-mindedly chasing hints about his dad thanks to that damn Baron, and as many times as we try to help him or smack some sense into him he still keeps trying to plow his own path."

"Hmph, fat lot of good we are," Becky snarled in a poor attempt to look like a callous jerk. Asuna just gave her a look, and she dropped it immediately. Her voice was barely above a murmur. "It's a fine time for him to be cowering out right about now. And yes, this is after everyone's been complaining about me doing the same thing. I don't think he needs us."

"I assure you," A voice interrupted. "Negi needs you now, more than ever, young ones."

Asuna didn't dig that voice at all. "Urgghh, not _you_ again..."

"Afternoon tea with a green wind, hailing from a foggy country. Love and bravery's ambassador of friendship," The swirl of black rose petals accentuated the mysterious person's appearance. "They call me the Black Rose Baron!"

"Whaddya want," Becky grumbled automatically like an underpaid fast-food restaurant worker.

"Listen, Baron," Asuna snarled, jabbing a finger at the mysterious man. "We don't have time for your crazy random BS, okay?! No riddles, no screwing up Negi's life, and no getting in our way! We're looking for him right now, so go bother someone else!"

"Hmph," The Baron swept his cape, the curves of his lips turned slightly upwards in the barest of smiles. "So I hear you seek answers to the past. But what answers do you truly seek?"

"Huh? The hell are you talking about?" Becky raised an eyebrow.

"Have you been spying on us?!" Asuna shrieked.

"Put simply, you're not finding any answers because you're asking the wrong questions." The wind blew, letting the Black Rose Baron's cape swirl dramatically in the wind. "It's not a question of where Negi is, the question is what is he investigating, and why."

Asuna scowled, Becky looked thoughtful.

"The hell does that have to do with anything?" Asuna asked.

"Can you protect anyone with just your temper?" The Baron countered smoothly.

It was all it took for Asuna to see red. "_You little_..." Nice job falling into his expectation, heroine. "Who the hell are you?! I'll unmask you right now!" In a flash, Asuna sprinted forward, rage all consuming, as her hand darted towards the shady baron.

At the very last possible second, the baron stepped to the left, and Asuna's hand soared right over, making a perfect miss. Asuna's fist continued sailing right over, causing the girl to crash land into the ground like a massive failed NASA rocket.

Becky just blinked and tensed slightly.

"Shall we start with a lesson then?" The Black Rose Baron began as Asuna quickly recovered. "You should know something—the first rule of protecting someone is knowing exactly who you're protecting. And I know Negi well."

"Really..." Asuna snarled. "So are you the Thousand Master then? Or somebody else?"

"I cannot answer," the Baron responded with aplomb.

"Then I'll answer that myself!" Asuna, now wearing a dashing baseball outfit for no reason, stiffened herself with her leg out, wound up her hands, and threw an assortment of deadly obstacles, including a traffic cone and some spiked maces.

The Baron easily ducked the sailing debris—that was exactly what Asuna was counting on. The red-haired girl snaked her hand towards the man's mask and hat, which would have de-masked and exposed his hair in one fell swoop.

Except nothing went as planned. The Black Rose Baron merely dashed forward, screwing up Asuna's judgment and causing her to sail right by and crash harmlessly behind him. The Baron whirled around to keep Asuna in sight.

Becky just watched on in interest.

"Grrr..." Growing ever angrier, Asuna rose, her clothes... back to normal, for no reason whatsoever. However, even Becky noticed the growing dark energy that seemed to radiate from the girl. "_Get lost_." She lunged for the baron once more.

The baron's face suddenly grew serious. He lifted his hand to his ear and pinched on what looked like an earring, making it flash.

A light shot from the ground, smashing into Asuna like an uppercut. The girl crashed into the ground, completely unconscious.

"What?!" Becky's jaw dropped in surprise. She then snarled, "I know she was stupid, but that was totally uncalled for!"

"Please relax," The Baron said. "She's only unconscious... some sort of darkness sneaked inside her; I have rendered her unconscious as a means for her to deal with it and not bother us."

Becky calmed down... somewhat. "Hmph. Because of that, I'm gonna continue her line of questions... with less stupid of course." As the Black Rose Baron scooped up the fallen Asuna and began to head back to the school, Becky continued, following behind. "So what do you mean the important question is what is he investigating and why? I already know that! He should be close to finding who stole the Star Crystal if that someone has a connection to him, right?"

"That is entirely true," The baron answered. "But where would Negi go to research for peace and quiet?"

Becky thought for a moment. "Hmmm..." An idea popped up. "Oh wait, HE BETTER NOT HAVE GONE THERE WITHOUT ME!"

* * *

Asuna stirred within the generic darkness. "Ah, geeeezzz..." She slowly, but surely, stood upon her own two feet.

There was nothing visible as far as the eye could see—just her and the inky blackness. This wasn't the same bulbous and malignant darkness of the Star Crystal, and neither was it the creepy, stealthy shadows that followed the Swan King. Nothing lurked, it was more or less a blank slate.

And for some reason, she felt horribly annoyed.

"Urrrrrgh, how about some light?!" Asuna bellowed. The stage hands obeyed, and one giant spotlight flicked on, bathing Asuna in all of its scathing glory! "Augh, not so bright, not so bright!" The girl flinched and stumbled back, and the light dimmed to a comfortable level. It was still a spotlight, though.

Asuna sighed. "Ugh... that baron..." She stood there for a moment, simply stewing in her own hot-blooded anger until she caught something out of the corner of her eye. She whirled around to see her shadow. Nothing special...until it began to extend like a Cygnus-induced nightmare, extending past the spotlight she had and _forming its own_.

It got worse when something rose out of it. Asuna found herself staring at a girl who looked exactly like she did about nine years ago. Her hair was taut in twin elongated pigtails. For something or someone resembling a young girl, she dressed regally in shades of black and beige.

A blank, almost bored gaze returned to Asuna, feeling just as disturbing, if not more so, than a malignant glare. Asuna stared briefly before snarling. "Who the hell are you?!" The bell ornaments on her hair chimed.

"You're sad," The monotone voice responded, perhaps forlorn that it had no bells to call its own. "That would be my question to you."

"Get lost! Out of my mind! This is my mind, isn't it?" Asuna looked around. As a small test, she thought about having better surroundings than this empty darkness, and thought of the moonlit dorms back at Mahora. Sure enough, her room in the Mahora dorms swarmed into her view. Yes, this was some part of her mind.

Alas, her Genre Savvy ended there. She forgot how to get out of this dream and deal with this girl before her.

"You usually aren't this quick to pick up on things," The bored underaged version of herself responded. "The almighty Baka Red, the usually moronic child who doesn't care about studying, has a one track mind and doesn't have enough brain cells to think. And yet here you are, trying to find the keys to the past that are best left forgotten, and why the Black Rose Baron makes you so angry."

"Past best left forgotten?" Asuna reeled back in confusion, but that hot-blooded rage returned quickly. "Look, I'm my own person, I'm not looking to be tied down to whatever past this came from!"

"I guess that's true. Your so-called 'fake' personality you've cultivated over the years has finally become genuine. But ignoring it completely must be a problem too. Otherwise you wouldn't be here, and I wouldn't have to come out," The girl continued her blank and yet piercing stare at Asuna. "To put this story simply, despite your mother's efforts, you've suffered too long as a vessel of anti-magic. You wanted your own destiny, not the one paved for you by the magic world."

"Huh?!" Asuna's anger seemed to be heightened, rather than curbed, by her confusion. "Who are you?! Who am _I_?!"

"What a disappointment—I haven't rubbed off on you enough here," The girl continued in that deadpan voice. "I'm you. Or rather, the you deep inside your heart, sealed away many years ago," She fully stepped out of Asuna's shadow now, stepping closer to her. "Right now though, you're in a sad state. The darkness has you, all because you weren't bright enough to keep on your power over magic death. Tsk, tsk..." She produced a familiar sword—the mighty sword formed by her pactio with Negi. "You aren't your original manga incarnation, so Magic Death requires some actual thought. Luckily we can fix that."

"...urk, why are you pointing that at me?" Asuna's rage switched into fear.

"Simple. You can calm down... or you can die." This Anti-Asuna stepped forward and slashed with a coordinated might not fit for a six-year-old's body.

Asuna's reaction could be boiled down to something akin to "ZOMGWTFASDFADSFBBQ" followed by lots of running away. Why was some freaky deep-buried alternate personality of hers trying to kill her?! What was this madness? Would she be kicked off a cliff for emphasis?! She bolted from the slow-walking anti-form, but no matter what she did, that creepy child edition of herself was _already there_.

Secretly swipe Negi's old collection of weapons? She was already there.

Trying to snatch one of Konoka's knives? The damn brat _was already trying to stab her with it_.

Fleeing the dorms on a go-kart? _An endless rain of blue shells_. (Damn she hated Zombie Rider Kart's item balance!)

The more she tried to escape, the closer that brat followed. She was getting exasperated, angry, some darkness was chewing at her, _oh god why was that baron right...!?_

Asuna felt her pocket, and finding something not usually there, she pulled it out. Chao's blank card.

What a fine time. Negi's not here to activate her pactio, no chaos emerald, oh man she needed some power to deal with this brat. Just as she managed to grasp it in her hands, the Anti-Asuna emerged from the shadows.

The normal Asuna looked at the card, seeing nothing out of the ordinary outside of the small amount of power she somehow... felt. And the tiny inscription on the back.

The small girl swung her sword...

Asuna read, "Adeat."

The large sword crashed into a much thinner, yet equally shining blade.

"Huh." Anti-Asuna regarded this new development with only slight surprise (for what a deadpan loli could express anyway) and awe.

"I got you now! Hrraauuggghhh!" Asuna swung her blade like a baseball bat, but once again the younger edition easily deflected the blow.

"Too slow," Anti-Asuna admonished, rather than taunted. Asuna snarled as that pint-sized horror twirled her blade like a pro, easily forcing her backwards. She took a sudden jab forward, and Asuna flipped to the side.

Asuna crashed her blade into her opposite's once more, letting her rage fuel her power. "I'm fed up of not having the answers!" She charged forward, almost pulling a jousting move against Anti-Asuna's more careful swipe. "I'm fed up with just being jerked around by some cheap audience!" Asuna leapt into the air and sailed down, but her double easily sidestepped this trite and predictable move. "And I'm fed up of not being able to protect Negi and Becky!"

"Ah, so now you know why you're angry," Anti-Asuna murmured. "But the problem is, you're still hopelessly angry. That means if you don't take control of that darkness, you'll have to die," Anti-Asuna suddenly hovered up in the air. Runes appeared around her, and suddenly, what felt like a massive air wave tore through the area, and through Asuna. The more reckless girl shivered, as if her opposite had taken needles to her soul.

"And still, for you to die would be..." There was a tone of genuine sadness.

"Geh!" Asuna snarled. She had no choice but to figure out this stupid mind puzzle now. But she couldn't do it here. She turned on her heel and sprinted full speed in the opposite direction.

"You don't understand... running away is useless..." Anti-Asuna sighed.

Asuna came to a stop a fair distance from the girl. "I'm not running from _you_." Now far away enough from the battle, she tried to calm her chaotic nerves. There would only be one shot, if she were reading her opposite—no, _herself_ right. She had to focus. All of that anger, sorrow, frustration... it shouldn't be just there. It can't be just eating at her. No, those emotions had to be controlled...

And suddenly pint-sized horror was there, taking a wide sweep to Asuna's head. The sword cut through.

Asuna herself was untouched. A bulbous rage that had settled inside her fell out, assuming a wounded physical form. "There you are," Anti-Asuna said.

That hopeless shadow of hatred and frustration leered at Asuna, leering at them with horrifying teeth with an equally horrifying dental plan. "Good god that thing was inside me?! Geez, how typically horrifying does evil _get_?!"

"That thing could very well be called your Heartless," Anti-Asuna deadpanned her answered. "It doesn't like it when we're on the same wavelength, apparently... A nothing and her heart..."

"Seriously... you need to lighten up," Asuna told her younger self. She leered at that nasty creature.

"You saying 'seriously' feels like an oxymoron."

"No seriously?!" Asuna heaved her blade. "Uuuwwwwoooaaaahhh!" She smashed into that dark creature of hatred, negating its existence with all of her power.

She felt so much better. Now she could do the dreaded thing called _thinking_, and it wouldn't tire her out or piss her off! "Seriously. Brats should stay brats. That includes you," She looked at her younger self, her normally lazy eyes alight with curiosity. "Negi and Becky don't need to drown in seriousness! That's why I'm _here_, you know! You can help me, right? I need to protect them both. That's why that Black Rose Baron sent me here...

"So help me out," Asuna requested her opposite. "And I can save us both."

* * *

"Argh! I should've updated the security on this place!" Becky took the stairs down to her own secret lab. With the Baron following closely behind her, Becky merely looked about her lab for anything out of order—her books, any chemicals she was toying with, and anything else personal. "But this is what I get for blowing all the funding on the materials and not getting any death lasers..."

"You're truly impressive, young one," The Black Rose Baron remarked over her lab. No longer holding Asuna (dropped the girl off at the infirmary), the mysterious caped crusader was free to swish about the cape, flood the room with black rose petals and their pleasant smell and do other mysterious un-bad-guy things, much to Becky's annoyance. "With all of this research at your fingertips... you've been truly working hard since Negi entered your life."

"Hmph..." Becky pouted. "...someone has to clean up after his bleeding heart. Speaking of which, how do you know him? Be honest... I know you aren't a real enemy, you've had far too much ample opportunity to smash us and not enough stupidity or nefariousness to ignore it."

"Hmm, sharp..." The Black Rose Baron remarked. A swirl of the cape later, and the rose wielding mystery finally answered. "Very well... I was one of Negi's guardians."

Becky raised an eyebrow. "_One_, you say."

"Negi had many at his home village, but when he was at school in Meridana, those who helped him grow narrowed down to those he was truly close two." The Baron stood tall. "I gave him that shiny bracelet he wears."

"...really?" Becky asked.

The Black Rose Baron's face looked quite serious. "He still believes his father gave it to him, though. I suppose I can't blame him... I did make it with his father in mind."

"Hold the phone!" Becky stumbled back. "Does that make you—?!"

"That is all I can answer for now!" The baron said. "Please be careful of the darkness, it is on the offensive now, looking for those with weak hearts. Stay on your toes, and I will return," And with a dramatic sweep of the cape, the Black Rose Baron had once again disappeared, with the airy and faux-sinister laughing to boot.

"Ugh, not again," Becky lamented the ever-growing mystery of the Black Rose Baron.

* * *

Becky walked into her quietest quarters, and surprise, surprise, there was Negi Springfield. The boy was sleeping peacefully, perhaps tired from his drive and endless research. "Negi!" Becky shrieked. But seeing the boy was still asleep and yet threatening to stir, she mellowed down. "You had us all worried..."

Negi continued his quiet snoozing, however. That was, until, Becky saw his nose flare up slightly, as if sniffing the air. "Big sis..." He whispered. Much to Becky's surprise, Negi rose, following the sniff to Becky. "...big si—" Negi finally crashed back into reality, and found himself looking at Becky. "B-b-Becky?!"

"Oi! Don't you know people worry about you?!" Becky yelled back. "That blockhead Asuna and I have been looking all over for you since this morning!" She then calmed down a bit. "...oh, and maybe the rest of your students, too."

"I'm sorry for worrying you, Becky," Negi murmured. "I've already involved too many people in this... Akira-san is missing because of my foolishness. I wanted to solve the case of the Star Crystal case as soon as possible."

"Arrggh, why are you always so..." Becky groped for the words. "So..." Still groping... "Soooo..."And still groping... "ARRRGGGHHH!" Grope failed!

But because those silly underaged teachers have such wonderful chemistry together, Negi knew what she was getting at. "Becky... I'm pretty sure Asuna-san or someone else has told you that I've been inspired by my dad." He put his hands on her shoulders, and somehow the ever-so-slightly taller girl felt small. "He was a hero to many people, and I looked up to him. Six years ago, that man saved the village I was in from terrible monster attack, and gave me this staff." Negi reached back behind him and tapped his famous staff. "I've always wanted to follow in his footsteps... but now that I'm here, I'm meeting so many wonderful people... including you."

Becky's face grew three shades of red that moment.

"I have worked very hard, with the single-minded goal of reaching my father's greatness, but as I see more dangers and run into more adventures, I realize it's my responsibility to protect my students and my partners," Negi's champion speech continued. "So I know you're all worried about me... I just wanted to solve this case as soon as possible so we can rescue Akira-san, too. So even though I'm like this... can you stay by my side?"

Becky stared for a moment. His bleeding heart struck AGAIN, and it was the most potent thing on her. She bet he _knew_ it, too!

But she couldn't help but listen: she too, was hopelessly lovestruck.

Time for the only appropriate reaction: the tsundere one. "F-fine! But I-I'm only helping you out because your heart will bleed all over the place if I don't!" So predictable, Becky.

But one thing neither of those two predicted was the quiet spying from one Nodoka Miyazaki. The girl clutched her chest, as if her physical heart as well as her figurative one were aching. Why couldn't Negi confess his history to _her_? Why couldn't _she_ be there in Becky's place?

No, she was too weak to confess... that's why she was hiding back here instead. That's why she lost to Becky. "Negi-sensei..." She whispered.

"Negi-kun!" Everyone's favorite yuri duo dashed inside the room. "That's where you went!"

Becky raged. Again. "Argh! First thing I'm doing when you all leave is _updating my security_!"

Konoka blithely ignored her rage. "Are you okay, Negi-kun? What have you been doing down here?"

"Just finished explaining to Becky-san about how close I am to solving this mystery with the Star Crystal," Negi answered. "Before I kinda... err... fell asleep, I have remembered what's happened with the fairies in the past, so I started looking up the spells they used," Negi grabbed his staff and tapped the flat end down on the floor. "I recognized many of the places those fairies whisked us to—they were memories I had back when I was in Wales. Spells that induce memory illusions, even with this much power backing them, can't be induced by the target from the target's point of view. In essence, that means that the Star Crystal Thief is using memories he, or rather she, shares with me."

The girls' eyes widened.

"Interference from Cygnus-san forced the thief to use much more crude methods, including having that Lirael girl act as a physical vessel," Negi continued. "This leaves me with only two suspects..."

But before that could continue, a flickering light appeared, flitting into the room like a butterfly before bursting into a more solid form—a fairy-like bird. Negi and the girls regarded it with silence and wariness, some of them dropping into fighting stances.

The fairy gazed at Negi for a bit before fluttering once more... and bursting into gray color.

"W-wha?!" Becky fell back onto her butt as she saw her lab drown in the colors of a new location.

"We're being dropped into an illusion again!" Setsuna declared.

When the colors of Becky's lab were fully washed away, Negi and the girls found themselves in a gray alleyway. A grim and equally gray sky hung above them, threatening to bring deliciously annoying gray rain.

"So... is this one of your memories, Negi-kun?" Konoka asked, looking at her new surroundings.

"No... this is different," Negi murmured his answer. "I know of this place, but I haven't been here before..."

"Negi-sensei!" Nodoka, somewhat surprised by the change in location, came in. "What is this place? Is this Wales again?"

"No..." Negi said. At the edge of his eye, he saw that strange bird-like fairy emerge from a nearby building and fly away. His staff glowing, Negi tightened his grip on it. Letting it guide him, he wound up pointing in the direction the fairy escaped. "These are the streets of London."

So this strange and dangerous switch in memories... Negi doesn't remember this place, and yet here they are in this strange and twisted illusion of London! Which of Negi's two suspects is responsible for this madness? Who ARE Negi's two suspects? Tune in next time to hear Howell say, "I didn't even get a line in the very episode I introduced?! What a tragedy!" and hear lots of sobbing.

**-x-x-**

Next Time: "Welcome to my Dance of Sadness..." by Lirael!

(Oh god, it's finally back! And now since I've hit the 2/3rds done mark, I think as long as the muses stick around I can finish this relatively quickly. I can't guarantee an Act III at this point, though, so I'm going to be ignoring a thread of plot or two in the name of completeness. Drop those reviews and concrit! And be sure to check out my author's notes too!

Thanks to **DarkDragonDave** and **Eternal Longing** for their prereading efforts!)


	11. Welcome to My Dance of Sadness

**Nightmare?!**

**Episode 10: "Welcome to My Dance of Sadness..." by Lirael**

Here, in the center of this gray memory, Lirael rested.

With only the darkness she hailed from and a sobbing, pathetic rabbit in her grasp as company, she recalled her work so far: corrupting people to fight Negi, her own battle... but what was this darkness working towards? True, it mentioned several times "suffering" and "loneliness", but then she found she never really cared.

She finally had _purpose_ now.

A sudden spark of energy, and she felt Negi's presence within this illusion. The darkness she whispered to would finally let itself be known.

She smiled and hugged that poor rabbit tightly, not really even caring how she managed to find him in the first place.

* * *

"Lay the body there," Cygnus instructed.

Sonic gently placed Akira's corpse down upon the table within the main control room, much to the surprise of the aliens already there. He then stepped back.

"That girl...?" The Captain alien stepped forward to examine her. "She has no life signs... what is the meaning of this? We can't revive the dead. Didn't you learn your Aesops?" His mechanical body seemed to convey worry and slight irritation.

Cygnus chuckled. "Correct those Aesops: we cannot revive the dead exactly as they were in life. And with this one, we have no intention of trying to do so."

"So why is she here?"

"That's what I wanna know!" Sonic said. Windia, almost shyly, nodded in agreement.

Cygnus shed his grin and stood tall. "A question for anyone smart enough to answer: how does one become a ghost?"

Most blinked from the question, but Windia was the one who answered. "When humans die with a heavy attachment to the world or a lot of regret, they become spirits."

"That's right," Cygnus said. "...and guess what. Youkai and some demons aren't that different."

"Huh?" Sonic thought back to when Cygnus declared that he felt 'unfinished business' from Akira. "So you think she's gonna become a ghost or youkai or whatever?"

"It's very likely," Cygnus answered.

"But if she's going to turn into a ghost," one of the numerous aliens spoke up. "Then why haven't we seen her spirit yet?"

"Good question," Cygnus's grin returned. He crouched and leered at his audience. "Now I mentioned how ghosts and youkai can be born from similar ways, but what's the key difference?"

"The youkai eats your organs?" The Captain tried.

"Wrong answer."

"Ghosts are ectoplasm littering heat suckers," Windia piped up.

"_Fail_."

"Ghosts are more moe than youkai!" Another alien interjected.

"_No_!" Cygnus smacked him for good measure. The alien held his head and whimpered like a disciplined puppy, much to the amusement of his coworkers.

"Magical power," Sonic said, drawing everyone else to silence. "Someone with a lot of power dying becomes a youkai instead of a ghost... You hinted at it earlier, didn't you?"

"So the hedgehog actually WAS paying attention!" Cygnus marveled. "And he's right, folks. Ghosts don't take any phenomenal energy to exist, only feelings. Youkai, on the other hand, are born when the humans that die leave behind a lot of certain kinds of energy. One Akira Ookouchi falls into the latter camp."

Windia's eyes widened as she realized something, then her features became somber.

"How do you know all these things?" The Captain alien asked. "I looked through hundreds of books and manga and I've only seen this happen a couple of times."

"Big brother speaks from personal experience..." Windia murmured. As the aliens and Sonic looked her way, she said, "...that's how I was born the way you see me now."

The aliens exchanged glances and hushed conversations.

Sonic turned back to Cygnus. "So you've done this before."

"Uh-huh," Cygnus answered. "Speeding up the reviving process allows her to sort her feelings out and not get consumed by them. That's how I rescued Windia, you know. Messing with super demons isn't a lucrative business." He leaned in close to Sonic and whispered as he kept his eyes on everyone else. "Not to mention demons made out of bones taste real. Damn. _Bad_."

Sonic twisted his face in disgust.

Cygnus swirled away from Sonic and walked to what appeared to be a... window? "So in order to pull this off, I'll need someone to help me get the magical energy within this girl moving again. Hedgehog!" He pulled down the shades.

And there was glorious sunlight! IN SPACE!

But Sonic, currently being a night creature, didn't quite like this. And I say 'quite' because transforming between his normal self and his night self is a painful process, filled to the brim with painful darkness evaporating from his body and soul, manly hedgehog screaming, and spinning camera angles. But after his painful reduction in size, at least he was finally back to his normal hedgehog self. "Ugh... still getting used to that," Sonic groaned.

"Start speeding around that girl..." Cygnus instructed.

"You know, I might cause a tornado if I do that..." Sonic said. "But tornadoes in a spaceship sounds like _loads of fun_," And he began running around the table at high speeds, the tight wind almost forming a barrier.

It was then Cygnus began his dark magic. Black smoke wafted from his shadow, circling into Sonic's created wind and Akira herself. It increased in thickness and violent movement as Sonic ran faster and Cygnus continued to pour in more energy. The aliens and Windia stared in amazement.

Finally, Cygnus suddenly snapped his fingers, and the dark energy and the wind burst from the table, stopping Sonic and knocking everyone else down.

The energy cleared itself. The body on the table was no longer a corpse.

As everyone continued to stare in amazement, Cygnus talked once more. "What you see here is no longer human, but still very much the girl before her death. However you return to the real world, whether or not you are sane, or evil, or good, the price for cheating death is your humanity—even if you _didn't want_ to cheat death."

Sonic snarled. He felt like Cygnus had basically used her for... something, but he couldn't tell what.

Windia quietly spoke up, "...why'd you make her choice for her?" And even more quietly, "...for me?"

"I'd rather her—and you—make your own choices, you know, _while you're sane_," Cygnus turned his back on her and sneered at Sonic. He then drew himself up, almost quietly. "After all, I never had that choice."

Windia nodded.

Sonic didn't get this anymore, so he shrugged. He was about to speed off when Cygnus spoke again. "Oh, and one last thing. Want to know what else was so funny about her dying?" When Sonic whirled back to him in a near fury, Cygnus gave one more feral grin. "...I knew when she'd return, she'd be the exact same thing I am now."

The aliens scratched their heads. Sonic reeled back. Could it be—

"When she wakes up, you'll see one more swan demon." And with that, Cygnus laughed once more.

Sonic blanched to a 1950's palette.

The aliens' jaws hit the floor.

Windia sighed, his strange humor finally making sense to her.

The Captain alien simply produced a tape and yelled, "Can we get on with it already?! I finally found the third part!"

* * *

"These are the streets of London..." Negi whispered. Not wasting a moment, he set his sights on the fairy and quickly tore after it.

"Wait, Negi-kun!" Konoka cried, as she and the others chased after him.

"Negi! HOLD IT!" Becky bellowed, running as fast as she could behind him. "What the hell is with this place?! And why is it important to you if it isn't part of your memories?!"

Chamo, having hidden himself up until this time, made himself known once more. "That's right! Even I haven't been here! What's with this?!"

Negi grit his teeth. "I see it now, but I don't want to believe it... this really does link me to someone I know... But for now, we stop that fairy!" And with that he continued his mad pursuit. Becky snarled, Konoka sighed, Setsuna gripped her sword tightly and Nodoka shivered, but all four continued after Negi.

* * *

The chase eventually led them to a building, an apartment complex built much like a manor.

"The fairy went inside," Negi murmured.

The girls nodded, and with that, Negi opened the front gate. All five walked through the front area and entered the front door and into the manor.

The foyer area was a grand, open area with just a staircase leading to adjacent halls and a massive chandelier dangling from the ceiling being the only things in the room. Alas, the lack of lighting painted the place gloomy shades of gray and dark blue.

"...why is this place so empty?" Nodoka asked.

"These memories..." Negi tried to answer, but words failed him—he actually wasn't too sure himself.

"Whose are they?"

"I prominently knew only two people during my days in school..." Negi whispered. "These are from one of them..."

"...Negi," Becky tapped his shoulder. "We've got something else." She noted the shadows of people. Mocking shadows, with disdainful stares and secret laughter.

"What is this?" Konoka frowned. "These memories look horrible..."

Setsuna jabbed at one of them with the hilt, but it went right through—they were only shadows after all. "We have no choice but to ignore them for now."

"Oh we have some actual company!" Becky bellowed. She pointed at the top of the staircase, where it met the window.

Illuminated by the gray sky, there stood the Black Rose Baron.

"Baron..." Negi murmured.

"That masked man again," Nodoka also murmured.

"I got news for you, that's not a man at all!" Becky shouted. She pointed a dramatic finger in the Baron's direction. "It's a reverse trap!"

"A reverse trap?" The Baron quirked an eyebrow. "I have no idea what you mean by that, but I assure you I am not a trap!"

"Ugh, you're a GIRL disguised as a MAN, so you ARE a reverse trap!" Becky complained.

The Baron flinched. "...guilty as charged."

"Where's Asuna-san?" Setsuna asked. "About now, she would be raging at the Baron..."

"I like the part where we only notice people are missing when they don't jump in conversations," Chamo remarked.

"Baron knocked her out cold cuz she was being possessed and dumb," Becky answered in a dull voice. "I think she'll find her way over here when she wakes up."

"Baron!" Negi complained sharply at this.

"And suddenly, things make a lot of sense," Konoka remarked. "But... are these your memories?"

"No..." The Baron answered, complete with dramatic cape flap. A single black rose petal drifted from her position to Negi's.

Negi grabbed it. "But still... these memories are of someone I know, right? These are the memories of the person who stole the Star Crystal!"

"You serious, big bro?!" Chamo exclaimed.

The Baron suddenly became very wary. "...what do you mean by that?"

Becky sniffed. Suddenly, something hit her. "Negi, smell that rose petal again."

Negi, confused, took the petal from his hand and sniffed it. "It smells familiar..."

"I smelled the same thing when you were doing that bleeding heart thing in your sleep and talking about some big sister of yours!" Becky declared. She whirled around to the Baron. "That's _you_, isn't it?! You've been stalking him all this time because you've been concerned as his _primary guardian_, right?!" That one got serious gasps from the other girls and Negi.

The Baron became quiet.

"Why else would you be here? You must know something about this... that look on your face says so!" Becky continued.

"...big sis... Nekane..." Negi spoke up. "You know who stole the Star Crystal, don't you?"

The Baron—no, Nekane Springfield sighed, removing the mask and the hat. What used to be pink hair and face paint was now blond hair and a gentle, sad face. "Yes... It was—"

"It isn't her, I can tell you that straight away," Becky suddenly said. "She's been following us for some time—and yet not a trace of darkness."

"If it's not you... then it can only be one person," Negi concluded darkly. "These memories are from places we all played—the woods, the old castle, the snow fields, even the astronomy club where Miyako-san and Rokugou-san fought Konoka-san, and all the small areas where we fought the Peach Moon students—all except for this one. These are her memories alone..."

Negi swallowed hard. "...Anya's. Anya stole the Star Crystal."

Nekane said nothing.

Konoka, Nodoka, and Setsuna gasped.

Becky scratched her head. "Uhh... who's Anya?"

"Big bro's childhood friend..." Chamo answered. "She was a stubborn and wily one, but for her to steal the Star Crystal... that's still unbelievable!"

Becky remembered Negi mentioned her at least once while she was over at Mahora. "Ah... I remember now," She turned to the sullen Nekane. "Still, you could have, you know, _told somebody more powerful than we are_, and nobody would be in this mess!"

"...and then Anya would be punished for losing control..." Nekane answered.

"But she's after Negi-sensei now," Nodoka said. "What can we do?"

"...this was my fault," Nekane lamented, falling to her knees. "Even though she was facing frustration at her fortune telling job, I told her of your success and friends. If it weren't for that, this wouldn't have happened..."

"That seems kinda suspicious," Chamo remarked. "This just might be speaking from what I know of Anya, but she wouldn't lose hope against Negi that quick!"

"That's true," Nekane said, drawing herself up again. "That's why I felt that if we gathered the four Soul Shrieks, the Anya trapped within could awaken... I could reason with her, at least."

"_We_ could, big sis," Negi spoke, eyes full of seriousness. "It seems unlike Anya to do such a thing, and yet... there's no other explanation before us."

"But even so," Konoka said. "Isn't the Star Crystal supposed to be really powerful? Whatever convinced Anya-han to do what she's doing now could be beyond any of us..."

"But we can't know unless we try!" Negi pleaded.

"That's right. There is still one way to reach her before it's too late," Nekane said.

"How is that?" Becky asked.

Nekane gave but one name: "Lirael."

Negi and the girls exchanged glances. "I don't have a clue where you're going with this, big sis," Negi admitted.

"Look at it this way," Nekane gently explained. "True, the Star Crystal has extreme power, but ever since Lirael began to attack you, she has been horribly focused on you—she doesn't wield the power of darkness the same way the fairies do. She, as a 'puppet' and a focusing point, can still be reasoned with, unlike the unrestrained and possessive magic used by those fairies, and likely the complete Star Crystal."

"Hang on, lemme get this straight..." Becky suddenly exclaimed. "You're saying that the laser beam of instant death Lirael represents is easier to manage than the explosion of almost-instant death the fairies do?!"

"Exactly it!"

"...crazy enough to work," Becky groaned. "Alright, you bleeding hearts win!" She wound up her arms. "Let's do this."

Negi smiled. "Thank you... big sis."

Nekane returned that smile.

"Okay, we need to find Lirael!" Konoka cheered.

"Negi-sensei, please let me assist!" Nodoka added.

"Let's go, Negi-sensei, ojou-sama," That was Setsuna.

And they walked further into Anya's memory.

* * *

Instead of them finding Lirael, however, Lirael found them.

"Walking on this path of sorrowful memories, it would seem that you aim to find the Master of the Darkness," Her voice caught their attention as they wandered through a hall.

Negi turned to his right to see her appear through a wall as if it were made of water. "Lirael-san..."

"I do believe that you are looking for me, yes?" The girl grinned.

"Let us speak to Anya," Negi requested.

Lirael's features did not change. "She will not speak to you, she sleeps in the darkness."

"She moves funny..." Setsuna murmured. "Stay on guard!"

Lirael began to glide towards the group, almost as if she was skimming water instead of the floor.

"She's just like those mermaids!" Konoka exclaimed.

Lirael crouched down before suddenly lunging at Nodoka. The girl shrieked as the mermaid-like creature pinned her to the ground...

...for all of two seconds, because Nodoka kicked her backwards in a counter-throw.

Surprised at her own finesse, she stood at attention as the others (save Nekane) gave her equally surprised looks. "Umm I'm sorry?" She tried.

"That was good, teach me that sometime," Konoka said seriously.

Lirael stood again, but this time with a less human screech.

Nekane tensed. "...that's not Lirael!" The creature lunged once more, but Nekane tapped her earring, and a burst of light rocked the creature, and it crashed into the ground. Moments later, it sunk into the ground like dead weight in a pool. "It seems she's hiding from us..."

"This... Lirael... she seems so unusual," Setsuna murmured. "Who is she really, and why is she involved in this?"

Becky quietly added, "And what does this have to do with Anya? Why is somebody like Lirael taking orders from her?"

"I don't know..." Negi answered somberly. "I don't get it. If Anya really took the Star Crystal, why...?"

"Loneliness," A familiar voice answered.

The small group turned around to see a mermaid... or Lirael. She gave them one of those soft, almost-not-even-sinister smiles. "Anya had loneliness."

"What does that mean?! What did you do to her?!" Negi shouted.

"She could not do her job," This Lirael-like creature responded.

"She could not fight her fate." The good guys reeled back when a _second_ mermaid-Lirael spoke, sounding exactly like the first.

"It is something you, who has friends surrounding him, cannot understand," the first continued. She outstretched a hand, and lunged towards Negi.

Becky was faster on the uptake. With her alchemy, she simply clapped her hands, pressed the ground, and watched as earthen spikes skewered the advancing mermaids. "There's an easy counter for that. It's called '_meeting new people_'. YOU SHOULD TRY IT SOMETIME!"

"Believe me... I tried," There was Lirael again, not even caring about the bleeding mermaids. "But lacking purpose gets in the way."

"What are you talking about?" Nekane asked.

Negi's staff shined. He followed it down the hall, with the rest of the group close behind.

"I'll tell you a little story..." A Lirael murmured at the end of the hall.

Unfortunately, Negi could not hear it, as this one lunged for Konoka, and her faithful guard always decreed that anyone trying to attack Konoka would be sliced in two, regardless of intent (Setsuna would like to take this moment to remind you that she is still sane and not a psychopathic murderer for her ojou-sama's sake).

Stopping at the end of the hall, there was once again a creepy blue door. At their approach, it opened, beckoning them. "Auuughhh, not again!" Becky complained.

"I've seen these before somewhere," Nekane added, "But I can't quite remember." Nevertheless, the group entered the door.

Fortunately, there was another Lirael waiting for them in the grand room. "There was once a young lass from Peach Moon, not knowing of her origins."

A second one entered from an opposite door, and made her way to the center of the room. "Because of her unusual appearance and personality, she had no true friends."

A third, joining the second in an embrace. "But one day, she was snatched up by the darkness when venturing through the school at night."

"In that darkness was a young girl, who also suffered from that same loneliness. She sought help. Seeing this, I answered." A fourth was suddenly beside Negi, whispering in his ear, before she too left to the center of the room.

"With our loneliness, we sought to work together. She would give me memories and purpose, and I would do her bidding as her physical form. As I fought you, the sleeping girl inside began to resurface the memories I lacked." A fifth, landing from the ceiling.

"You see, I was never kidnapped at all—I was returned to my original path, as one with the Star Crystal, as a means of controlling it without it falling into chaos. I had been alone in there for many years—I think I lost count. Why I was there, I still do not know..." A sixth.

"It didn't change the fact that I still remained alone. It's horrible being lonely."

"So I made even more of me. But the process eroded my memories..."

"Even so, I could not defeat the loneliness. Even with so many of me, I want to drown with someone in this world."

Before Negi and Becky knew it, there were several Lirael, perhaps in the hundreds. Or rather, there was this great, floating mass of Lirael, hundreds of them hugging each other in one huge sphere in the center of the room.

It was such a massive sight the five of them had to step back, their eyes widened in horror.

"It's... it's..." Konoka's face nearly contorted as if she were about to wretch.

"A huddling mass of granfaloon," Nekane observed, the raw horror still in her face.

"There wasn't just one Lirael... there was a whole freaking LEGION!" Chamo exclaimed.

"...of _mermaids_, I should add!" Becky backpedaled almost on instinct.

The numerous Liraels giggled and shrieked and then moaned in unison, much like possessed valley girl zombies.

"We're stopping this nightmare, girls!" Negi bellowed, twirling his staff. "Partners: Rebecca Miyamoto, Nodoka Miyazaki, Konoka Konoe! Show me the power within you! Contract, activate!"

Konoka, even with her watery cosplay active, followed suit. "Partner: Setsuna Sakurazaki! Show me the power within you! Contract activate!"

With the activations finished, Becky was once again in catsuit, and Setsuna was in... Japanese maid attire? "Ojou-sama! W-w-what's the meaning of this?!"

"I thought we agreed to this?" Konoka said atop her handy platform, holding a most unfortunate Nodoka. Stuck as a tiny seal, she only sobbed in addition. "The Kashiwagi twins thought it'd suit you better!"

"B-b-but...?!" Setsuna tried again.

"Watch out!" Chamo cried, as the bulbous mass of Lirael shed bodies. And to make matters worse, as soon as they hit the floor, they started _swimming_ in it, heading towards the group like demented piranhas.

Setsuna had little choice but to deal with it—she snarled and swept her blade in a wide arc, slicing down the multiple Lirael clones. Becky too, scampered down and began slicing down the clones, although she looked more visibly disgusted.

Nekane was no slouch to battle. Tapping her earring once more, a light shined and she tugged it, producing a rapier. With finesse and speed, Nekane tore through many mermaid bodies.

This left Negi and the others to deal with the source itself. "So many of them..." He remarked.

"Break 'em apart and cut them down to size!" Chamo suggested, banging a tiny fist into his palm.

"Alright..." Negi reared back, gathering energy. "Konoka-san, help me out!"

"Okay!" She held the strange platform of hers steady as Negi began to chant.

"Ras Tel Ma Scir Magister..." Negi murmured. "Jovis Tempestas..." He aimed his staff. "FULGURIENS!" A torrent of wind and lightning tore through the mass of bodies; the spell ended with a sickening squelch as broken bodies hit the floor.

"Aiyah..." Nekane simpered, activating a barrier to protect against the falling nastiness. Setsuna and Becky scrambled under it.

"Hey!" Becky complained at Negi from her vantage point under Nekane. "Watch how you kill things!"

Nowhere near finished, however, a few Liraels in the front actually began to scramble on top of each other, extending out to grab for Negi and Konoka, complete with cacophonous shrieks. Negi and Konoka both squealed and scrambled back (okay, it was more like Negi fell on his butt as Konoka moved her platform back).

"Why don't you... join us?" The mass of Lirael locked their eyes on Konoka. "Toss away... that useless child."

Konoka frowned. "No way..."

The Liraels answered by aiming their shed numbers towards her this time. Those scrambled towards her, arms outstretched, yearning to claim the girl as one of the many.

"Ojou-sama!" Setsuna cried.

"Miss Setsuna!" Nekane called to the distraught guardian. Both of them aimed their swords before spinning in a graceful nightmare flurry, slicing multiple mermaid bodies with precision, allowing Konoka and Negi to get away.

The boy mage grit his teeth in determination and aimed his staff again. "Tel ma... AMORISTA!" A flurry of arrows sailed towards the mass of bodies in the air, once more. This particular hit was strong enough to cause a huge mass to fall down at once.

With that, Becky looked up and noticed something. "I see it! I see a core!" She scampered to where the bodies made a more obvious "hole". "Hmmm... it looks like..." She saw something snake out of it.

She recognized a familiar blue tentacle.

"The real Lirael's in there!" Becky exclaimed. "She's hiding in the middle of—" The ends of the blue tentacle _opened_, and Becky saw light gather on the inside.

Her eyes shrank. "Oh crap."

-BLAM- An intense burst of light crashed into the ground, knocking Becky astray. "Waaaahhhh!" She sailed into a wall.

"Becky!" Negi shouted in concern.

"She can fire lasers?!" Chamo gaped.

"Let's end this quick before she can show us anything else..." Negi snarled. He hopped on his staff and zoomed right towards the massive bulbous mess of Lirael. Once he was close enough, he swung down and around his staff and balanced himself on top of it. He aimed two fingers like a blade. "**Calling unto the blade of wind, grant me strength to sever the enemy**..." He twisted his hand back... "Tel ma... AMORISTA!" And he slung it through. The entire bottom half fell out this time.

Now everyone could see what appeared to be the real Lirael, though the top half of her still had those numerous clone bodies. She was curled in a fetal position in the center, hugging... something. Two of her tentacles snaked about, as if looking for some opponent to attack.

One spotted Negi, and with lightning speed opened fire. Negi ducked, narrowly evading a vicious laser beam that would have surely fried his neck if it didn't remove it completely.

Unfortunately, said firing laser came close near Konoka as well. "Eep!" She had to duck to avoid laser-induced death as well. Nodoka didn't like this either and whined as Konoka pretty much squashed her to protect her.

"Ojou-sama!" Setsuna once again cried. This time, she sprinted atop the heads of the Lirael clones and hopped atop the platform. "We need to end this chaotic madness now!"

Konoka nodded. "Negi-kun! I'm going to help Secchan go all out to finish this... whatever happens after that, we'll have to leave to you!" Once she saw Negi nod, she closed her eyes and focused with her powers. "Animadverto lucis..." She shined, giving off a holy aura. "**O spirits that answer me... guide my partner through the power of light, and give her a moment of unyielding might...!**"

Setsuna bared down, preparing a strike.

Konoka's eyes opened. "Sataaaa ANDAGI!"

Setsuna timed her own strike with the massive power. "ZANTETSUKEN!"

A truly massive blade of light sliced through what remained of the mass of Lirael, wiping it out in an truly fearsome display of power. The power of the attack exhausted both of them, enough that Konoka fell out of cosplay form, and with it, the platform. Negi kicked off on his staff, and Setsuna cradled her charge and gently guided her to the ground.

"Well done, Konoka-san," Negi smiled before taking the staff to where he knew Lirael still floated.

Indeed, Negi saw that despite the powerful attack she suffered, the supposed will of the Star Crystal was still in one piece, albeit weak. The something she was hugging slipped out of her grasp and fell to the ground—or well actually, it fell on top of Becky before landing on her lap in a pathetic heap.

The annoyed Becky picked up the sad thing— "Mesousa?"

The poor rabbit lamented. "You didn't even notice I was missing?"

"Nope. Never cared," Becky shrugged. "Glad to see you're back though." She put him in the same vicegrip hug Lirael had him in over the past twenty-four hours. Mesousa just sobbed, whether it was from happiness of being back with Becky or sadness that nobody really cared about his disappearance, the world may never know.

Negi continued sailing towards Lirael. "You know what happened to Anya, right?"

"Negi..." Nekane whispered.

"Negi-sensei..." A now normal Nodoka murmured in worry.

The girl's expression couldn't be read. She only answered with a slithering tentacle that tried to knock Negi out of the sky, and when that failed, a laser burst.

"Please, let her go!" Negi shouted, easily weaving past the laser beam. "Or at least, let me talk to her!"

"You..." Her voice was faint, but it stopped Negi in his tracks.

"..." Negi kept alert, not sure what she was about to do.

"You deny me my purpose... why? Why do you care? Why can't you just lay down and die and heed my master's wish?" The girl was actually shedding tears. "Why am I..."

"If that IS Anya, that's not her wish!" Negi bellowed. "I _know_ her, she wouldn't really want to do this!"

Lirael shivered. "But why... this was my purpose... right? I can't..."

Negi felt it. That fairy's power.

No wonder he couldn't find it when he came inside—it was hiding in Lirael all along. As a matter of fact, that fairy was probably the source of all the darkness Lirael controlled. If he could seal it...

Lirael, however, had reached the brink of madness and melancholy. "I refuse to fail in my purpose...! If I can't do it, she can use me as a vessel to carry her will!" From inside her, that bird-like fairy emerged.

Negi prepared his sealing spell...

Lirael beat him to the punch. She grabbed it, and with dark energy, sealed it away, making a yellow, crystalline shard. "Master of the Darkness..." Dark holes opened up, drawing in the other three shards Negi had made from the fairies. All four shards locked together, as if they were pieces in a magnetic puzzle.

They fused together in a burst of magic light. From it, a pulsating, frog-hand-like, blue gem the size of a large marble was born.

"The Star Crystal!" Nekane exclaimed.

"That's the Star Crystal?!" Negi, Chamo, and Becky exclaimed at the same time from their separate places.

Now shaking with both power and emotions out of control, Lirael screamed to the sky. "_**LEND ME YOUR POWER**_!"

The twisted gem dropped into Lirael's forehead, and with it, the massive dark energy that composed of its power. That included the illusion. Darkness distorted the area around them, the Star Crystal slowly sucking up all the darkness into the vortex.

Negi and the other girls found themselves back in the real world—only they weren't in Becky's lab, they were now on the rooftops of Peach Moon. "We're back...?" Negi asked. "But Lirael... Anya...!" He turned to see Lirael hovering in the sky, now wearing some sort of dark blue suit, stylized with blood red lines running about from the Star Crystal.

Hello, Negi... Lirael announced in a new voice.

It was one Negi recognized. "Anya..."

I will not lose to you... not now, _not ever_. And with that, Anya, in Lirael's body, held a twisted grin, and moved in for the attack.

The sunset filled world was looking grimmer by the moment.

**-X-X-X-**

**OMAKE!**

**-X-X-**

And so, Howell and Ichijou often went out on sunny days to do work for the Student Mage Council. Most of the time, Howell would introduce himself (referring to Ichijou as his obligatory cute assistant), crow about how wonderful the day was, followed by Ichijou pointing out actual problems before Howell noticed them. One particular day, they managed to stop a jaywalker from inducing a fifty-car pileup, save Shichimi from a tree, and reunite a lost girl with... her balloon. Oh well, at least they tried, right?

"Well, Ichijou-chan!" Howell proclaimed. "Good has been done this day!"

The girl merely cursed under her breath—she was still no closer in learning how to hex people.

"What does that mean?"

It was then Ichijou heard a splash. She had no idea how much she would grow to hate that sound.

At first, she simply pointed out what she normally did: "Howell, a child fell into the lake."

The child's cries for help were ignored. Howell had frozen still.

"You should help her. Howell," Ichijou gently prodded.

It was as if Howell couldn't hear her. All he could hear were all those dreaded words from his mother years ago, ignoring his pleas for help.

"_Hush baby, don't be scared..."_

"_...why do you have to exist out here... without me..."_

"_Why don't you and mama both die together?"_

Ichijou prodded once more. "Howell, hurry—"

"Help me..." Howell held his face, his eyes shrunken in complete horror. "Somebody _help me_!"

Ichijou reeled back in confusion, with horror following and growing with Howell's.

"Don't...DON'T HURT ME! I'msorryIdidn'tdoanythingpleasestopstopstopdon'tkillme _DON'T KILL ME, MAMA_!"

Howell began to hyperventilate, and there was nothing Ichijou could do.

Soon, others arrived. A big, muscular teenager pulled the drowning girl out of the water—whether she lived or died Ichijou didn't know—and probably didn't care. And a young teenager with an unusual ponytail led Howell away, with a simple "He gets like this, sometimes." and a brief apology. And they were all gone.

There was nothing Ichijou could do, except stew in the feelings she forgot she had—like sadness.

And determination. Who knew nobodies had those?

* * *

"YO COLONEL SANDERS! There's this hot chick who wants to kick your ass!" Ichijou stared mutely at the muscle-bound teen before her. It was tough to believe that the same Jack Rakan she saw yesterday was the same buffoon before her.

"That's NOT what she said!" The bandanna-bearing Connor objected.

"Heheheh, see what she says, at least," came the voice of one 'Colonel Sanders', also known as Albiero Imma.

Ichijou stepped into the inner sanctum of the Student Mage Council—a cozy place occupying several of the club rooms back in Mahora. As well as Jack and Connor, Ichijou was also surprised to see a few familiar faces—namely the happily pink magical girl Behoimi and the familiar boxy robot disguise Akane Serizawa liked to employ.

And so she got down to business. "Where's Howell?"

"That's it?" Jack Rakan raised an eyebrow. "Laaaame."

"Why do you care?" Connor asked. "Are you his girlfriend?"

"Are _you_?" Ichijou coolly countered.

There was a moment of silence as Connor quietly sank into despair, having been owned so hard.

While Rakan mercilessly laughed at Connor, Behoimi happily sailed over to Ichijou and greeted her. "Howell was feeling sick yesterday, but he's A-OK today! So no worries!"

Even with that news, Ichijou still felt... something akin to sadness.

"What's the matter? You look sad..." Behoimi asked in concern.

"HOW CAN YOU TELL?!" Both Jack and Connor roared in shock.

Ichijou was sure of it now. Even if they weren't "real" feelings, they were still very much hers. "I couldn't..."

"You're sad you couldn't protect Howell, hmm?" That was Serizawa. "You shouldn't worry. He's pretty quick back on his feet."

His friends were kind, but they didn't understand...

...mostly. "But if you still want to see him, he's in the back."

And so Ichijou did.

As she left, though, the enigmatic Albiero showed up in a flash of magic, shocking Connor and Jack. "Who knew... a nobody drawn to another nobody by feeling. Perhaps the Keybearer was wrong, and nobodies CAN feel..."

"You talk like that makes actual sense to us," Connor grumbled.

"Put it simply: if anyone can connect with Howell, it would be her," Al explained. "They're the same in a way, after all."

* * *

When Ichijou walked in the almost hollow room, Howell greeted her as if nothing happened. "Morning, Ichijou-chan."

She whispered something.

"What did you say?"

"I want to be... your partner."

"So... you're truly interested in magic, then?"

"Yes." She meant it. But it was also to reach him, too.

"Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt if you referred to me as 'Master'..." Howell slyly suggested.

She'd do anything. "Okay... Master."

"Ichijou... you don't have a moe bone in your body," Howell wasn't convinced by that at all, but still, they embraced with a mighty kiss, and such powerful feelings...

**-x-x-**

The alarms blared, suddenly cutting off the video just before it could reach the unnecessary tacked-on lovemaking scene at the end.

"W-what?!" The Captain stumbled. "...j-j-just as well, I don't think I could take anymore!"

_Warning! Intruder detected. You may now commence panicking,_ The alarm blared in full force. _Warning! Intruder detected. You may now commence panicking._

"What kind of security alarm is this?" Cygnus raised an eyebrow.

"Intruders?! More intruders?! OH NOOO!" The aliens wailed. And true to their alarm's instructions, they panicked like caffeinated lemmings tied to a lethal processing plant.

Cygnus sighed and smacked his palm on his forehead.

Windia gripped her sword. "What should we do?"

"Let's set up the welcome mat..." Sonic said, suddenly standing up. "...and throw a party!" And with that, he burst out of the control room and down the hall.

"Wait!" Windia cried, but her shout fell on deaf ears.

"Hedgehog's got a point," Cygnus grinned, standing up himself and letting darkness seep out of his shadow. "Let's greet our guest. I get the feeling we might know who this is."

* * *

At maximum speed, Sonic navigated the hallways, amused by the flashing lights and ineffective security that mistook him for the intruder. "Crappy laser guns," Sonic noted as he spun into a ball and shredded one in half. "Poor security robots," The cobalt speedster saw the clunky mechanical robots step in his way, and just like many of his attacks on Eggman's brands, easily slid under one, followed by a smooth and deadly uppercut to a second. "I've seen all this before! Too easy!"

Sonic darted down a hallway, still seeing no signs of any unusual intruder. "I could be going in circles all day, though..."

A screen flashed on, revealing the alien captain. "Hedgehog! The intruder's been pinpointed! Head to the boiler room!"

"Where's that?" Sonic asked. "I don't know my way around this ship!"

"Make three rights, drop down and take a left!" The Captain bellowed.

"Aren't I just going in a circle downstairs!?" Sonic exclaimed as he followed the directions regardless, smashing through more fodder robots in the process.

"You found the stairs, didn't you?"

Sonic grimaced and gave a thumbs-down despite the accuracy of those words. Heading forward, he saw a massive blast door slowly open, so he blasted forward at full speed.

And then the door shut, and Sonic realized all too quickly that was a _boss door_. However, the blue hedgehog took this in stride and faced what appeared to be the source of the problem.

A gate of black energy swirled at the center of the room. Sonic watched as a hand shot up, followed by the owner of that hand—a seemingly tall girl with a bow. And a massive wingspan.

The girl opposite of him licked her lips. What that mean, the hedgehog couldn't figure out, as her eyes were shaded by her hair.

But that portal of darkness... "Who are you?" Sonic asked. "That's a swan boy trick, too. How the hell did you pull it off?"

"He's here?" An airy voice responded. "That's good. But enough about that, I want an appetizer..." The girl shot forward, and Sonic flipped backwards to evade her hand.

"Whoa!" Sonic exclaimed, skidding to a stop. "Bad news, _bad news_!" He shot forward with a burst of blue energy, smashing into the girl like a football player. Much to his shock, however, the girl actually grabbed him, ignoring the searing friction and heat, picked him up and slammed him down.

Straining from the pain, Sonic looked up to see that girl was licking her lips again. It was still weirding him out. "Hello?!" Sonic once again flipped away from the girl, this time zigzagging backwards when the girl began to flap her mighty wings and give chase.

Sonic suddenly shot forward again. "Let's..." He stopped right in front of her face, fist wound behind him. "_GO_!" And he let loose a powerful punch to the girl's chest.

The girl stumbled back, only to right herself suddenly, catching Sonic as his momentum sent him dashing by. She easily slung him over into a wall. Sonic crashed, but righted himself. In retaliation, he arched his quills... "Haven't tried this porcupine trick since I'm a hedgehog, but..." ...and let loose a flurry of them in the girl's direction.

The girl folded her wings, and the spikes lodged themselves inside. "Your danmaku is weak..." The girl with dark wings said as said wings flapped, discarding those quills with ease.

With distance attacking not an option, Sonic landed down. He charged forward and aimed a punch one last time. "Hrrraauughh!"

No dice—she caught the punch in one hand.

"What?!" Sonic stopped, completely shocked.

It got better—her now visible dark reddish-brown eyes glistened in delight. "Ooh, I recognize you now! You're the blue hedgehog Cygnus talked about!" She then happily squashed him in a hug. "You're so cuuute! If I eat you, will I get super speed?"

"_Don't eat me_!" Sonic objected, his quills sharpening for effect.

"Utsuho, being an idiot as always," Cygnus snaked into the room, ignoring the massive door that would've blocked most normal people. Windia stepped out of Cygnus's shadow and stood by him. "What do you want? And how the hell DID you get here?"

"Well, long story short I figured out how you hop dimensions," The girl known as Utsuho answered, only loosening her grip on Sonic enough to let him breathe. "So I tried it out, and here I am! And I've got some news for you, too."

"News?" Cygnus raised an eyebrow.

--

Next time: "...Now Endure My Banquet of Madness!" by...?!

(Yeah guys, sup from Greensboro! My muses from this story are going full tilt despite the lack of audience. Enjoy the ride, because there's only 4 eps left.)


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